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Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston 



THE • 

Honeycombs of Life 

A VOLUME OF 

SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 



BY 

REV. LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D.D. 

AUTHOR OF "the PEOPLe's CHRIST " " WHITE SLAVES" " THE REVIVAL 
quiver" "common folks' religion" ETC. 

PASTOR HANSON PLACE M. E. CHURCH, BROOKLYN, N.Y. 





boston 

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 



ID MILK STREET 

i! 



> 

( 




Copyright, 1894, 
By Lee and Shepard. 

The Honeycombs of Life. 



Eleotbotyping by C. J. Peters & Son. 
Pkesswokk by S. J. Pakkhill & Co. 



TO 



My Feiend 

WHOSE UNSELFISH FRIENDSHIP AND 
BROTHERLY KINDNESS HAS BEEN A HONEYCOMB 
OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSPIRATION 

^fjts Folumc 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

By THE Author. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



The sermons and addresses in this volume 
have all been delivered during the past year 
in the regular course of my ministry in Boston 
and Brookh'n. They are reprinted here as de- 
liA^ered, without change. The direct style of 
the public address has been retained. The 
friends throughout the country who have so 
graciously received the volumes which have 
preceded this are responsible for the present 
publication. In selecting from the Avork of 
the year material for tliis volume, I have had 
in view the desire of presenting a diversity of 
topics and themes such as would fairh^ be I'ep- 
resentative of my work. The kind assurances 
which have come to me from multitudes of my 
brethren in the ministry in regard to the help- 
fulness of previous volumes, lead me to hope 
5 



6 



author's preface 



that to the preacher, the Sunday-school teacher, 
and Christian workers of every type, this new 
volume may, by illustration and suggestion, 
prove to be of some real profit. Sincerely hop- 
ing that every one who reads these discourses 
may find some honey that shall sweeten life's 
daily struggles and inspire to loftier exertions, 
I send them forth with a brother's blessing. 

Lours Albert Banks. 

Brooklyn, May 23, 1894. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Honeycombs of Life 9 

II. Life in the King's Country 28 

III. A Wise Simplicity which outwits the 

Devil 49 

lY. The Soul's Resources 67 

V. An Earnest Life 90 

YI. Anxiety, Its Danger and Its Cure . . . 109 

YII. What is It to be a Christian ? .... 12"2 

YIII. At the Gate Beautiful 145 

IX. The Nobility of Service 162 

X. Lucy Stone : A Heroine of the Struggle 

FOR Human Eights 183 

XI. Fresh Bread for To-day's Hunger . . . 204 

XII. A Glad Sight for Weary Eyes .... 219 

XIIL Our Brother in Yellow 236 

XIY. The Problem of Man-Flight 257 

XY. The Pilgrimage of Faith 276 



XYI. The Well-Diggers in the Yalley of Baca 296 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. An Enthusiasm for Humanity 311 

XVIII. Talmage and His Work 315 

XIX. Spiritual and Other Lessons from the 

President's Inauguration 323 

XX. James Russell, Lowell, the Poet-Re- 
former - . . 330 

XXI. Whittieu and the Golden Rule .... 336 
XXII. Lucy Larcom and Her Sweet Songs of 

Common Life 3'41 

XXIII. The Yacht Race as a Picture of Human 

Life 348 

XXIV. A Crown for the ]Man who fails . . . 362 
XXV. The Coming of Christ's Kingdom in New 

York 380 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



I 

THE HOXEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

" He put forth the end of the rod that was in his liand, and 
dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to Iris mouth : and 
his eves were enlightened." — 1 Sam. xiv. 27. 

AXD this was the way it came about. The 
x_L Israelites, under Saul, were encamped 
over against the Philistines. It was a period 
of discouragement for the army of Israel. 
Many Israelites, believing that Saul would be 
defeated in the threatened battle, had endeav- 
ored to '-feather their own nest" by joining 
the camp of the enemy. Multitudes of others 
were liidino- around in the hills, waitino- to see 
which army would be victorious, and ready to 
cry "good Lord" or "good devil,'" as seemed 
9 



10 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



most likely to save their own worthless heads. 
I am sorry to say that the representatives of 
that class are not all dead yet. 

It was a gloomy s^Dirit that hung about the 
camp of Israel, and something unusual was 
greatly needed to put heart and enthusiasm 
into the army. Jonathan, Saul's son, deter- 
mined to make a heroic effort to break the 
courage of the enemy and arouse the enthusi- 
asm of his own troops. I love Jonathan. The 
Old Testament has no more lovable character 
than he. Bishop Hall quaintly says that Jona- 
than was " a sweet imp out of a crab-stock." 
Jonathan called to his armor-bearer, and said, 
" Come, let us take our lives in our hands and 
go over to tlie enemy's garrison, and try what 
we can do to put them into confusion." He 
said nothing to anybody else about it ; but these 
two went out, not simply as two reckless lads, 
but they went saying to themselves, " -God can 
save by many or by few." 

I have not time to tell the whole story, 
which is exceedingly interesting ; but it was 
only a little while until this independent skir- 
mishing of Jonathan's had put the whole Philis- 



THE HOXEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



11 



tine army into confusion, and as they began to 
beat a hasty retreat, the Copperhead cowards 
sa\A' it, and came trooping down from the hills, 
swelling Saul's army by man}' hundreds. The 
king prepared to pursue the Philistines ; but 
before he did this, he made all his followers 
take an oath not to taste of food until the pur- 
suit was over. Jonatlian was not present when 
this oath was taken, and knew nothino- of it. 
Alono' iu the afternoon thev came to a oTcat 
wood, where the wild bees had taken the hol- 
low trees for hives, and honey was abundant. 
The Israelites were nearly famished; but, re- 
memberino' their solemn oath, not a man lifted 
his liand to his mouth. But Jonathan, not be- 
ing bound by any such restrictions, coming 
under an overhanging limb full of honey, thrust 
the end of his rod into the comb, and breaking 
off a piece of it, began to eat of the delicious 
food, and as his hunger was appeased, he was 
refreshed in spirit, and his eyes brightened. 

We have nothing to do with the further 
story, where only Jonathan's great personal 
popularity with the army saved his life. It is 
that wayside honeycomb waiting for the battle- 



12 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



worn and weary Jonathan, rich in the power to 
comfort and refresh him, and send him on with 
new vigor and courage — that is the picture I 
wish to study with you. 

I 

Let us consider some of the honeycombs of 
our common life, which are open to every one 
of us in times of weariness and need. Surely, 
when finding our theme in the life of Jonathan, 
we cannot fail to emphasize the fact that one of 
the sweetest of life's honeycombs is friendship. 

There is nothing more beautiful in history 
than Jonathan's friendship for David. How 
delightfully unselfisli it was ! Jonathan was 
the heir apparent to liis fatlier's throne, himself 
a most heroic spirit, and universally beloved 
and popular. The first time he ever sees David 
is when he comes back from the death of Go- 
liath, where the women are singing, — 

"Saul hath slain his thousands, 
And David his ten thousands." 

From that hour the shepherd lad from Beth- 
lehem stood in the light of a popular rival. 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



13 



" Looking then upon him in his loveliness of 
person and of character, Jonathan saw with pro- 
phetic ken the sure future of David as the com- 
ing king of Israel, as the one in Avhose glowing 
light his own star of earthly hope must pale. 
Bnt in the first flush of that discovery, there 
was no shade of envy, nor yet the faintest trace 
of regret in the more tlian royal heart of Jona- 
than." How splendid the picture stands out 
against all the intrigue and jealousy of Saul's 
court : " And it came to pass, when he had made 
an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of 
Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and 
Jonathan loved him as his own soul." From 
that time forward, every heart-throb of Jona- 
than's friendship for David was a heart-throb of 
unselfish devotion to him to whom he was a 
friend. Death itself could not break that bond. 
When David found Jonathan dead on his last 
battle-field, his heart-cry of sorrow for his lost 
friend was : — 

"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: 
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me: 
Thy love to me was wondeiful, 
Passing the love of women." 



14 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Long years afterward, when David was set- 
tled firmly on his throne, he asked of those 
about him, " Is there yet any that is left of the 
house of Saul, that I may show him kindness 
for Jonathan's sake ? " and the crippled Mephi- 
bosheth was lifted out of poverty and given the 
seat of honor at tlie king's table in proof of 
the unchangeableness of David's friendship for 
Jonathan. 

The Bible idea of friendship throughout is 

the love which loves for the very joy of loving, 

without reckoning up the measure of return. 

Moses says to Israel, The Lord did not set his 

love upon you because ye were more in number 

than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all 

people : but because the Lord loved you." Some 

of our poets sing this thought very sweetly. 

Whittier says, — 

" Love is sweet in any guise; 
But its best is sacrifice. 

He who giving does not crave, 
Likest is to Him wlio gave 
Life itself the loved to save." 

Helen Hunt Jackson sings, — 
"When love is strong, 
It never tarries to take heed 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



15 



Or know if its return exceed 
Its gifts: in its sweet haste no greed, 
Xo strife belong. 

It hardly asks 
If it be loved at all ; to take 
So barren seems, when it can make 
Such bliss, for the beloved's sake, 

Of bitter tasks."' 

George Eliot adds her testimony, — 

" So if I live or die to serve my friend, 
'Tis for my love, — 'tis for my friend alone, 
And not for any rate that friendship bears 
In heaven or in earth."' 

Tlie highest honor pnt on any man in the Old 
Testament is when Abraham is called " the 
friend of God." The most comforting thing 
Jesus conld conceive of to say to the disciples 
before leavino- them was, Xo lono-er do I call 
you servants . . . but I have called you friends." 

Mrs. Maro^aret Sano-ster, who savs so manv 
thino-s which are rich in their knowledo-e of the 
human heart, declares that there is no finer test 
of what a man really is than the way in which 
he mahes and keeps his friends. In the first 
early bloom of life friends .are easily won and 
often as easily lost. The youth at school, or the 



16 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



maiden in her teens, wears often the rose of 
friendship as a lady dressed for a part}^ wears a 
rose upon her bosom. It is prized wliile it is 
fresh ; but, as the heat and dust of tlie swift 
hours cause it to wilt, it is cast aside without a 
pang. Some other flower Avill take its place ; 
there are so many other flowers ready to one's 
hand in the bright gardens of youth. But later 
on, when our powers have in some sort arrived 
at maturity, and the simplest acts are infused 
with a deeper and sterner meaning than lies on 
the surface, men and women grow into a truer 
appreciation of the value and worth of friends 
and friendships. 

Those who have been by our side alike in 
our joys and sorrows, are to us as precious 
gems, to be treasured in the safest places of our 
love and care. We regard them with something 
of the reverent affection that a soldier feels for 
the decoration on his breast. A jewel to be 
guarded and delighted in, a sign of promotion, 
a gauge of merit, is a friend in wliom one con- 
fides without a shadow of a doubt. 

Be true to your friends. Nothing in this 
vale of humanity is in the long run so good an 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



17 



investment as friendship, human and divine. 
Solomon says, — 

" A friend loveth at all times, 
And a brother is born for adversity." 

" Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: 
So doth the sweetness of a man's friend that cometh of 

hearty counsel. 
Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not." 

"Iron sharpeneth iron; 
So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." 

And One greater than Solomon has said: 
" Greater love hath no man than this, that a 
man lay down his life for his friends" — as 
friendship has many a time prompted a man 
to do gladly. 

Cultivate the gift of friendship that is within 
you. You have no other talent that will draw 
higher interest in the social market-place. Jer- 
emy Taylor says : " A friend shares my sorrow 
and makes it but a moiety ; but he swells my 
joy and makes it double." Rest assured, my 
brother, that, — 

"A friend is worth all hazards we can run. 
Poor is the friendless master of the world : ^ 
A world in purchase of a friend is gain." 



18 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Here is a honeycomb possible for us all, 
and one that will endure to the end. Dr. H. 
Clay Trumbull, who wrote that beautiful book, 
" Friendship the Master-Passion," and Avho tes- 
tifies as an expert on the subject of friendship, 
shows by scholarly argument that the word 
translated " charity " in the Old Version, and 
" love " in the Revised Version, of the thirteenth 
chapter of First Corinthians, should be trans- 
lated friendship-love. Let us apply the glowing 
words of Paul to ourselves this mornino'. If 
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
but have not friendship-love, I am become 
sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And if I 
have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries 
and all knowledge ; and if I have all faith, so as 
to remove mountains, but have not friendship- 
love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my 
goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body 
to be burned, but have not friendship-love, it 
profiteth me nothing. Friendship-love suffereth 
long, and is kind ; friendship-love envieth not ; 
friendship-love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed 
up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh 
not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 19 



of evil ; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but 
rejoice til with the truth ; bearetli all things, be- 
lieveth all things, hopeth all things, enclureth 
all things. Frienclship-love never faileth : but 
whether there be prophecies, they shall be done 
away ; whether there be tongues, they shall 
cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall be 
done away. ... But now abide tli faith, hope, 
friendship-love, these three ; and the greatest of 
these is friendship-love." 

II 

Another honeycomb, open to us all, is a cheer- 
ful heart. The London Christian Worlds some 
time ago, had an article of marked ability on 
" Ministering Gladness," in which the writer 
took the ground that, if joy is not the main end 
of life, it is certainly life's ordained condition. 
Surely no life is healthy without it. It may be 
true that enjoyment must ever elude those who 
live for nothing else ; but it is equally true that 
God has made life and joy so inseparable that 
no one can be healthy and noble without also 
being glad, sooner or later, and without coming. 



20 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



finally, to rejoice much more than to grieve. 
So to speak, the happy God has taken pains 
to make His creatures happy too. Tlie chief 
ordinances of nature bear Avitness to this. Ma- 
ternal pain, as a rule, bears no comparison with 
maternal exultation. Healtliy children, with a 
fair amount of food and kindness, know far more 
joy than sorrow. Thousands of invalids who 
never expect to be well again in this world are 
patterns of permanent cheerfulness and peren- 
nial fountains of gladness to all about them. 
One of the most, if not the most, cheerful- 
hearted and happy of the children with whom 
I ever came in contact is Helen Keller, wlio 
has been since early childhood deaf and dumb 
and blind. Indeed, one of the gladdest schools 
I have ever seen in my life was an institution 
for the blind. In ordinary cases, the reason 
why we so cry out under pain is because we 
are not used to it. Commonly everything we 
do ministers to our happiness. We are glad to 
go to bed when weary ; glad to rise refreshed 
to salute a new day; and glad to go about life's 
ordinary duties while the sun is in the heavens. 
Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



21 



are so many open inlets to the ordained joy of 
simply being alive. Every season brings its 
own especial gladness, every climate has its 
peculiar delights. Not only so, but to the con- 
sciousness of present enjoyment is to be added 
the pleasures of memory, and the felicities of 
hope, together with the marvellous power we 
possess of dwelling lightly on past pain, while 
reviving and re-enjoying bygone mercies, all 
of which means that the loving Creator has, 
with the most far-reacliing foresight and mi- 
nutely adjusted skill, strung our very beings 
to the music of good cheer. 

There is no real exception to the divine or- 
dinance of predominant joy. There is pain. 
There are woes innumerable. Some lives are 
unspeakably sad. The very Saviour of the 
world is known as " the Man of Sorrows." 
But we no sooner recall this fact, than the 
gloom begins to break. It was " for the joy 
that was set before him " that the Son of God 
" endured the cross." Sorrow, then, need only 
be temporary. It is the shadow of joy. It is, 
therefore, also prophetic : " Blessed are they 
that mourn : for they shall be comforted." 



22 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Pain is a necessary discipline. Jehovah " doth 
not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of 
-men." This necessary discipline implies only 
the deep love of onr Heavenly Father. The 
goodness of God leadeth to repentance. Christ 
was anointed to heal the broken-hearted. The 
Gospel proclaimers are bringers of good tidings, 
whose rapid feet are beautiful upon the moun- 
tains. The first church — that which was born 
in Jerusalem on Pentecost — held daily festi- 
val ; when Philip went down to Samaria there 
was "great joy in that city," and the chief rea- 
son why the first preachers " turned the world 
upside down," was because they everywhere 
made dull lives bright, and turned sighs into 
singing. Along this line of joy-bringing minis- 
try lies at this day the highest duty of the 
church, because therein is to be found the most 
crying need of the world. Even the most cal- 
lous of men probably need to be encouraged to 
call to mind their sins as not past forgiveness ; 
while enormous numbers of the masses urgently 
require strong and generous help to win them 
back from despair, and convince them that God 
is love, and Calvary the natural manifestation 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 23 



of His great-hearted tenderness for us. Open 
the honeycomb of your cheerful heart, my 
brother, to the weary and discouraged. 

^ III 

The only other honeycomb that I sliall speak 
of this morninof is made in the same hive with 
the last — a hope in Clirist. This, too, with all 
its treasured sweetness, is open to every one. 
Hope is a part of our divine inheritance. Ex- 
perience discovers many cheats and destroys 
many ideals, but it has not been able to destroy 
hope. We have all been deceived many times, 
and found the hook neatly hidden within the 
most attractive bait ; but though the bait changes 
as we grow older, hope still lures us onward. 

Our world is so marvellously constructed, and 
we are so placed in it. that the future always 
seems to be beautiful, and every year cheers the 
heart with a new promise. No doubt, the final 
intention of God in ever luring us onward by 
hopes which are forever eluding us, is to show 
us that nothing on earth is permanent, and that 
when we have completed this life another one 



24 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



awaits us. There was one bird-song that 
Thoreau had heard many times, and tliough. he 
tried every time he heard it to find the singer, 
he never succeeded. He travelled far and fast, 
but never caught sight of its flight or its rest. 
Through all these years we have heard one 
song, sweeter than any bird-note, but we have 
never caught a glimpse of the singer. In our 
search we have seen and heard many other 
things of beauty and interest, but not this one. 
This is a messenger sent by the Heavenly Fa- 
ther to entice us away from the meadows and 
groves of earth, toward the fields and forests of 
a still bi-ighter and more glorious land. 

Even here and now, hope tunes the soul to 
the sweet strains of heavenly music. There is 
an interesting story of Ole Bull and Ericsson, 
the inventor. They were friends in early life, 
but drifted apart, and did not meet again until 
each had become famous. Bull had charmed 
the ears of admiring thousands all over the 
civilized world, while the part the great mecha- 
nician played in naval Avarfare during tlie war 
roused the North to enthusiasm, and startled 
the world. When taking his leave. Bull invited 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



25 



Ericsson to attend his concert that nio^ht. 

o 

Ericsson, however, declined, saying that he liad 
no time to waste. 

Their acquaintance heing thus renewed, Bull 
continued to call on his old friend when visitino- 
New York, and usually, when taking his leave, 
w^ould ask Ericsson to attend his concert; but 
Ericsson always declined the invitation. 

Upon one occasion. Bull pressed him ur- 
p-entlv, and said, — 

"If you do not come, I shall bring my violin 
here and play in your shop." 

" If you bring the thing here, I shall smash 
it." 

Here w^ere two men, the very opposite of 
each other — Bull, an impulsive, romantic 
dreamer; Ericsson, stern, thoughtful, practical, 
improving every moment with mathematical 
precision. 

Bulhs curiosity was aroused to know what 
effect music would have upon the grim matter- 
of-fact man of squares and circles. So, taking 
his violin with him, he went to Ericsson's shop. 
He had removed the strings, screws, and apron. 
Noticing a displeased expression on Ericsson's 



26 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



face, Bull called his attention to certain defects 
in the instrument, and, speaking of its con- 
struction, asked Ericsson about tlie scientific 
and acoustic properties involved in the grain 
of certain woods. From this he passed on to 
a discussion of sound-waves, semi-tones, etc. 

To illustrate his meaning, he replaced the 
string, and, improvising a few chords, drifted 
into a rich melody. ^ 

The workmen, charmed, dropped their tools 
and stood in silent wonder. 

He played on and on ; and, when he finally 
ceased, Ericsson raised his bowed head, and 
with moist eyes said : — 

"Do not stop. Go on I Go on! I never 
knew until now what there was lacking in my 
life." 

So many men and women go on for years 
and years imagining that religion is something 
sentimental and impracticable — a thing for 
dreamers — that they do not need it, or care for 
it, until God manages in some unexpected way 
to carry the sweet hope of the Gospel into their 
hearts. Then, with Avet eyes and tender hearts, 
they exclaim, I never knew until now what 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 27 



there was lacking in ray life ! " I covet for you, 
every one, a life fed with honey and the honey- 
comb here, and abundant entrance into that 
land where our fondest hopes shall be lost in 
glorious fruition. 



II 



LIFE m THE KING'S COUNTEY 

" The King's country." — Acts xii. 20. 

IT is related of Hugh Latimer that when he 
was to preach one day before Henry VIIL, 
he stood up in the pulpit, and, beholding the 
king, he addressed himself in a kind of solilo- 
quy thus : " Latimer, Latimer, Latimer, take 
care what you say, for the great king Henry 
VIIL is here." Then he paused, with all eyes 
upon him, and with tones of still deeper awe 
exclaimed: "Latimer, Latimer, Latimer, take 
care what you say, for the great King of kings 
is here." Slowly but surely there is being 
built up in the midst of this world a spiritual 
kingdom — the kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. It is an invisible kingdom to the eye 
of sense, but all the more real because of that, 
for it is the unseen that is eternal and immu- 
table. From out our dusty streets, from the 
28 



LIFE IN THE KING'S COUNTRY 29 



busy marts of toil, they are being gathered one 
by one ; without reference to earthly distinc- 
tion, from rich and from jdoot, from learned and 
from ignorant, from black and from white, the 
great work of spiritual naturalization is going 
on. Paul said of himself and his friends, Our 
citizenship is in heaven." So all around the 
globe the numbers are multiplying from among 
Americans, Englishmen, F'renchmen, Germans, 
Russians, Chinese, Japanese, and from every 
monarchy or republic and nearly every tribe 
among the sons of men, of those who are taking 
the oath of allegiance to Him who is King of 
kings and Lord of lords. 

The great mission of the Christian church is 
to win aliens to this holy citizenship. The 
King's country, in this high sense in which Ave 
study it, pervades the universal consciousness 
of man. Its domain is the moral and spiritual 
life of mankind. The possibilities of citizen- 
ship in this heavenly dominion is within every 
human soul. We carry in our own hearts, by 
the very charter of our creation, made as we 
are in the likeness and image of God, creden- 
tials which, if presented with penitence and 



30 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



faith, will admit us into the high fellowship 
of the citizens of the King's country. Let us 
study some of the characteristics of life in this 
spiritual dominion. 

Henri Amiel says, "Every soul has a climate 
of its own, or rather is a climate." And this 
is peculiarly true of Christ. He creates a 
spiritual climate, the atmosphere of which is 
breathed and enjoyed by all His disciples. For 
to be a Christian is to be like Christ. " Come 
unto me," He says, " all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take 
my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am 
meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest 
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my. 
burden is light." Again He says, "For I have 
given you an example, that ye should do as 
I have done to you." And Paul says, " Let 
this mind be in you, which w^as also in Christ 
Jesus." And Peter tells us, " But as he which 
hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all 
manner of conversation." And still again 
Peter urges, " For even hereunto were ye 
called : because Christ also suffered for us, 
leaving us an • example, that ye should follow 



LIFE IX THE king's COUNTRY 



31 



his steps." And John declares, "He that saith 
he abideth in him ouglit himself also so to 
walk, even as he AA^alked." These Scri23tures, 
in perfect harmony with the universal teach- 
ing of the Bible, make Christ the very centre 
around which His whole spiritual dominion is 
to revolve. In John's vision of the New Jeru- 
salem, one great characteristic was that they 
did not need the liglit of the sun or the moon, 
but the Lord God was the light of it, which is 
only the fulfilment of that great prophecy of 
Isaiah, who declares that the influence of the 
great Redeemer shall work mari^ellous trans- 
formations in the earth, until He Himself shall 
be the central sun of an all-encompassing king- 
dom. The glorious promise reads, " For brass 
I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring 
silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. 
I will also make thy officers peace, and thine 
exactors righteousness. Violence shall no 
more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruc- 
tion mthin thy borders ; but thou shalt call thy 
walls Salvation and thv o-ates Praise. The sun 
shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for 
brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : 



32 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting 
light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall 
no moi'e go down : neither shall thy moon with- 
draw itself: for the Lord shall be thine ever- 
lasting light, and the days of thj^ mourning 
shall be ended." 

Susan Coolidge, thinking about Christ as the 
central sun, creating as He does a spiritual cli- 
mate for human souls to dwell in, sings a most 
helpful lay : — 

" O heart beloved, O kindest heart! 
Balming like summer and like sun 
The sting of tears, the ache of sorrow, 
The shy, cold hurts which sting and smart, 
The frets and cares which underrun 
The dull day and the dreaded morrow — 
How when thou comest all turns fair, 
Hard things seem possible to bear, 
Dark things less dark, if thou art there. 

Thou keepest a climate of thine own 
'Mid earth's wild weather and gray skies, 
A soft, still air for human breathing, 
A genial, all-embracing zone, 
Where frosts smite not nor winds arise ; 
And past the tempest-storm of feeling 
Each grieved and weak and weary things 
Each bird with numbed and frozen wing, 
May sink to rest and learn to sing. 



lilFE IN THE king's COUNTRY 33 



Like some cathedral stone begirt, 

Wliicli keeps tlirough cliange of cold and heat 

Still temperature and equal weather, 

Thy sweetness stands, untouched, unhurt, 

By any mortal storms that beat, — 

Calm, helpful, undisturbed forever." 

One of the great cliaracteristics of the King's 
country is the consciousness of God's presence 
in human life. Two little children, Grace and 
Rob, were very much interested in their beauti- 
ful new Christmas books. Grace, the elder of 
the two, was explaining to Rob what a wonder- 
fully good and generous person Santa Claus 
was. Rob was becoming impressed more and 
more favorably. Finally he asked, " Where 
does he live ? " Assuming a most knowing 
look, Grace replied, "Well, Rob, I don't 'xactly 
know, but I guess right across from God." It 
is the glory of the people who live in the King's 
country that the sunlight of God's presence falls 
daily upon their lives. Not that there are not 
trials in the King's country, not that there are 
not hard experiences of discipline ; but for every 
day of storm there is a bow of promise. There 
is a parable that tells how Laughter and Tears 
met one day in a shady lane. The sunshine and 



34 



THE HONEYCOMBS OE LIFE 



shade mingled pleasantly there, and the breath 
of the woods was strong in the air, as was also 
the fragrance of the clover-field near by ; but 
the lane was all too narrow to allow both to 
pass, for Laughter was full of life and buoy- 
ancy, and romped about so much that he took 
up a deal of room, while Tears seemed to be 
half blind, and could scarcely see her way. 

She said in a soft, plaintive voice, like the 
song of a night bird, Why don't you let me 
pass ? This is my path." 

" No," replied Laughter, this lane is mine ; 
and I am in a hurry, so you'd better climb the 
fence into the dark wood, and walk through 
the dead leaves." 

" Why don't you climb the other fence ? " 
said Tears, softly, "and run along through the 
clover in the sunshine ? I am sure you'd like 
it better." 

" Well," rejoined Laughter pleasantly, " I 
am sure I don't want to quarrel with so gentle 
a maiden ; and so, as we don't seem to agree 
about the path, suppose I turn about and go 
with you ? " 

So they went on together through the tAvink- 



LIFE IN THE KING'S COUNTRY 35 



ling shine and shadow, and each felt better for 
the comj)any of the other. And that is why, 
says the fable, that whenever you meet Tears, 
Laughter is not far away. 

But upon far more solid grounds than any 
pleasant fable rests the assurance that to the 
citizen of the King's country the silver lining 
of divine care shall glorify every cloud, and 
at every eventide there shall be light. Even 
in the deepest trials that can come to human 
hearts, the King's country has peace and hope. 

A Western secular journal contained the 
other day a most touching little incident. In 
the city where this newspaper is published 
there was a family consisting of husband and 
wife and one little boy scarcely old enough to 
talk plainly. A few weeks ago the young wife 
and mother was stricken down to die. It was 
so sudden, so dreadful, when the grave family 
physician called them together in the parlor, 
and in his solemn, professional way intimated to 
them the truth — there was no hope. Then the 
question arose among them. Who would tell 
her ? Not the doctor ! It would be cruel to 
let the man of science go to their dear one on 



36 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



such an errand. Not the aged mother, who 
was to be left childless and alone! Not the 
young husband, who was walking the floor with 
clinched hands and rebellious heart! Not — 
there was only one other; and at tliis moment 
he looked up from the book he had been play- 
ing with, unnoticed by them all, and asked 
gravely, — 

" Is my mamma doin' to die ? " 

Then, without waiting for an answer, he sped 
from the room, and up-stairs as fast as his little 
feet would carry him. Friends and neighbors 
were watching by the sick one. They wonder- 
ingly noticed the pale face of the child as he 
climbed on the bed and laid his small head on 
his mother's pillow. 

" Mamma," he asked in sweet, caressing 
tones, "is you 'fraid to die?" 

The woman looked at him with swift intelli- 
gence. Perhaps she had been thinking of this. 

" Who told you, Charlie ? " she asked faintly. 

''Doctor an' papa an' gamma — everybody," 
he whispered. 

"Mamma, dear 'ittle mamma, doan' be 'fraid 
to die, 'ill you ? " 



LIFE IN THE KING'S COUNTRY 37 



"No, Charlie," said the young mother, after 
one supreme pang of grief, " no ; mamma won't 
be afraid." 

Jus' shut your eyes in 'e dark, mamma ; 
teep hold m}^ hand, an' when you open 'em, 
mamma, it'll be all light there." 

When the family gathered awe-stricken at 
the bedside, Charlie held up his little hand. 

" Hush ! My mamma's doin' to sleep. Her 
won't wake up here any more." 

And so it proved. There was no heart-rend- 
ing farewell, no agony of parting ; for when the 
young mother woke she had passed beyond, and, 
as Baby Charlie said, " It was all light there." 

So every dweller in the King's country shall 
find the light stronger than the darkness. As 
Susan Coolidge sings again : — 

" Grief is strong, but joy is stronger; 
Night is long, but day is longer; 
When life's riddle solves and clears, 
And the angels in our ears 
Whisper the sweet answer low 
(Answer full of love and blessing), 
How our wonderment will grow 
At the blindness of our guessing. 
All the hard things we recall, 
Made so easy — after all. 



38 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Earth is sweet, but heaven is sweeter; 
Love complete, but faith completer; 
Close beside our wandering ways, 
Through dark nights and weary days, 
Stand the angels with bright eyes; 
And the shadow of the cross 
Falls upon and sanctifies 
All our pains and all our loss ; 
Though we stumble, though we fall, 
God is helping — after all. 

Sigh, then, soul, but sing in sighing, 
To the happier things replying; 
Dry the tears that dim thy seeing. 
Give glad thoughts for life and being; 
Time is but the little entry 
To eternity's large dwelling; 
And the heavenly guards keep sentry. 
Urging, guiding, half compelling; 
Till, the puzzling way quite pa^. 
Thou shalt enter in at last." 

The atmosphere of the King's country is one 
of reverence and thanksgiving. Conscience is 
master there, but not a morbid or despairing 
conscience. Instead, a conscience comforted by 
the assurance of divine sjanpathy and love. 
The psalms of David contain the spiritual biog- 
raphy of an intense nature, who, through great 
trials and sorrows, scarred and wounded by 
many sins, came at last to dwell in peace in the 



LIFE IN THE KING'S COUNTRY 



89 



King's country. What splendid strains some- 
times swell out from David's harp, when his 
soul is exalted at the thought of the transfor- 
mation God has wrought in him, a sinful, err- 
ing, weak man; when he reflects on the power 
that has brought him back to the delicious, 
childlike feeling of trust and joy and love, in 
which he is cleansed from the dirt and stain of 
bitter warfare with temptation and sin, and finds 
himself at last rejoicing in the heavenly com- 
munion ! There is nothing grander in human 
language than some of these outbursts. Hear 
one of them ; I am sure it will tell the story of 
many other lives : " I waited patiently for the 
Lord ; and he inclined unto me, and heard my 
cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible 
pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon 
a rock, and established my goings. And he 
hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise 
unto our God." 

Let us cherish as we would life itself, for it 
is more valuable than life, that sensitiveness 
and tenderness of conscience that is characteris- 
tic of life in the King's country. 

In Coleridge's story of the "Ancient Mariner" 



40 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



we read how the captain of a ship shot an alba- 
tross that had followed them through a long 
and prosperous voyage, after which the wind 
ceased to blow, and the ship stood still in a 
dead calm under the equator, until death re- 
lieved the sufferings of all the crew. In their 
superstition they attributed these sufferings to 
the shooting of the albatross, and, in token of 
their bitter resentment, they hung the dead bird 
around the captain's neck as a punishment. 
Whatever may be the meaning the poet in- 
tended, it is surely true that conscience, like a 
bird of hope, guides safely the human life so 
long as she is cherished and obeyed ; but con- 
science wounded and dead means a body of 
death and despair around the neck of its mur- 
derer. It does not appear from Coleridge's 
poem that there was any enmity toward the 
albati'oss on the part of the captain ; it was a 
mere wanton use of his cross-bow because the 
bird presented the nearest object for his skilL 
Alas ! is it not true that men sometimes shoot 
and kill, in mere thoughtlessness, the con- 
science that is the best friend and guide of 
life? You that would be dwellers in the 



LIFE m THE king's COUNTRY 41 

King's country, cherish with every possible 
tenderness the record of Himself which God 
has put in your breast. 

Service is the standard of honor in the King's 
country. The Master said that the standard 
among His disciples should be entirely differ- 
ent from that of the w^orld. The world honors 
the strongest, the richest, the successful, and 
they are the ones who are waited upon and 
served and ministered to. But Christ declares 
that in the King's country the greatest is the 
one who is the greatest servant. ''Whosoever 
of you wdll be the chiefest, shall be servant of 
all." 

One may trace the frontiers of the King's 
country in every land, in every town and city, 
in every social circle, in every home, by the ex- 
hibition, or the lack of it, of this spirit of 
brotherly service. How it glorifies all common 
life where it prevails ! The other day, in one 
of our cities, two small boys signalled a street- 
car. When the car stopped, it was noticed that 
one boy was lame. With much solicitude the 
other boy helped the cripple aboard, and, after 
telling the conductor to go ahead, returned to 



42 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



the sidewalk. The lame boy braced himself up 
in his seat so that he could look out of the car 
window, and the other passengers observed that 
at iiitervals the little fellow would wave his 
hand and smile. Following the direction of his 
glances, the passengers saw the other boy run- 
ning along the sidewalk, straining every muscle 
to keep up with the car. They watched his pan- 
tomime in silence for a few blocks, and then a 
gentleman asked the lame boy who the other 
boy was. My brother," was the prompt reply. 
"Why does he not ride with you in the car?" 
was the next question. " Because he hasn't 
any money," answered the lame boy sorrow- 
fully. But the little runner — running that his 
crippled brother might ride — had a face in 
which sorrow had no part, only the gladness of 
a self-denying soul. O my brother, you who 
long to do great service for the King and reach 
life's noblest triumph, here is your picture — 
willing to run that the crippled lives may ride, 
willing to bear one another's burdens, and so 
fulfil the law of Christ — that is the spirit of 
the King's country. 

All about us are men and women who are 



LIFE IN THE KING'S COUNTRY 



43 



being swallowed up in temptation and sin, 
wkom we can save if that divine spirit of 
service possess our souls. Did you ever see 
the firemen, when rescuing men and women 
from the burning building, and the ladder 
would not reach those that were in peril, 
when, in the dreadful emergency, a fireman 
stood on the top rung of the ladder, added his 
own length, and made of himself a human lad- 
der, over which the imperilled men and Avomen 
climbed down into safety? Often brave fire- 
men have done that. So, brothers, if you and 
I shall breathe in its purity the atmosphere of 
the King's country, we shall with all joy bare 
our shoulders to carry the burdens of the 
tempted and weak. 

In this divine atmosphere of the Christ-land, 
it is possible to have the sweetest fellowships 
that human souls may know. Some one well 
says that fellowship is something too precious 
to be built merely upon a common study or a 
common taste. The foundations needed for 
such a temple are nothing short of character, 
reverence, and love. The college friend, or 
even the messmate of the camp, if he have 



44 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



drifted into habits gross and carnal, can find 
in the association no more than a momentary 
tie connecting him with the old-time friend 
whose character has grown more spiritual 
through the years. All the symbolism of the 
lodge, all the charms of a common secret and 
a common interest, cannot make real brothers 
of men who have contrasted moral codes, or 
opposed conceptions of duty, or antagonistic 
hopes about the life to come. All other fel- 
lowships are artificial and found to be perish- 
able ; but Christian fellowship is founded in 
common character and a common love, and is 
more lasting than life itself. 

This Christian fellowship, which we may well 
thank God is more common in the world to-day 
than ever before, does not depend upon unity 
of creed, but upon a harmony of spirit, of life 
motive — a unity in high and holy purpose. 
The Roman bishop in his purple gown, or the 
Salvation Army captain in his red shirt, may 
neither of them agree with me in creed ; but if 
under the purple gown and the red shirt there 
be found warm hearts beating in loyalty to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, bowing in reverence at the 



LIFE m THE king's COUXTKY 



45 



foot of the Cross, seeing in all men their broth- 
ers, and giving themselves in glad service to 
cure the world's sorrows — then neither gown 
nor shirt nor lack of creed can keep ns three 
from being brothers in the King's country. We 
have seen a most remarkable illustration of this 
during the past week, when, on the platform of 
the Brookljai Tabernacle, Calvinist and Ar- 
minian, Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protes- 
tant, all united in words of fellowship and 
fraternal greeting to a fellow-worker for the 
glory of God and the uplifting of humanity. 
Such scenes give us hope and inspire us to 
believe the glorious promises of our blessed 
faith. 

Brothers and sisters, I have tried to tell you 
a little about life in the King's country. But I 
cannot close without putting a personal, definite 
question to your own soul. Let it come to each 
one of you as though we two were here alone, 
and I God's messenger to you. Art thou in 
the King's country? If yoti must give the an- 
swer in the negative, let me entreat you to stay 
no lono'er outside. An old ao-e and death out- 
side of hope in Christ is the saddest conception 



46 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



of the human mind. One of our modem paint- 
ers has given us a striking picture which he 
calls Death in the Desert. Upon the canvas is 
seen in the foreground a dying camel, lying in 
the midst of a desert of burning sand. The 
blazing sun shimmers in the midst of a heaven 
of glowing brass. There is not a leaf or blade 
visible from horizon to horizon ; but the poor 
creature, which has been abandoned by some 
passing caravan, lifts a feeble head to look up 
toward that sky, through which the multitudes 
of impatient vultures are winging their way to 
the expected feast of death. This sad and aw- 
ful picture suggests the fate of many a man 
who, rejecting the hope in Christ and hardening 
his heart against the mercy of God, drops out 
of life's caravan at last to die in the desert of 
despair. God forbid that it prove to be your 
picture ! It need not be. Let us open the pages 
of Isaiah and look on a very different picture. 
The scene is that of a royal garden, such as the 
old kings of Judah planted on the slopes of Zion. 
And in the centre of its roses and its fountains 
there stands a great dovecote, with its innu- 
merable windows for their various nests. And 



LIFE IN THE KIND'S COUNTRY 47 



now at eventide from every quarter of the 
heavens we behold the multitude of doves wing-- 

o 

ing their happy flight toward the loved abode. 

0 my brother, when the flight of life is over 
and the storm of death threatens, you may find 
a happy home in the dovecote in the King's 
garden. Ah, but, says some discouraged soul, 

1 have been going wrong, and instead of being 
in the King's country to-night, I am in the " far 
country " with the husks and the swine. What 
can be done for me? I thank God, if you are 
willing to leave the husks and the swine, we 
have a light to put in the window for you to- 
night. I have heard of a miner who was lost 
in a mine. The more he walked the deeper he 
seemed to get into its depths, and he became 
almost ready to give up in despair. Suddenly, 
when ready to abandon all hope, he thought he 
saw a faint light. He went toward it, it grew 
larger and larger, and immediately he Avalked 
out upon the greensward in the bright sunshine. 
My brother, I hold out to you the bright light 
of God's love. If you Avill follow it, no matter 
if only with trembling steps, it will bring you 
into the clear sunshine of a full salvation. I 



48 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



entreat you that you do not rest until your 
heart is the abode of the King. 

" Though Christ a thousand times 
In Bethlehem be born, 
If He's not born in thee, 
Thy soul is still forlorn. 
The cross on Golgotha 
Will never save thy soul ; 
The cross in thine own heart 
Alone can make thee whole." 



Ill 



A WISE SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS 
THE DEVIL 

" I would have yow wise unto that which is good, and sim- 
ple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan 
under your feet shortly". — Rom. xvi. 19, 20. 

THIS plain, straightforward declaration of 
Paul reminds us at once of his similar 
words to the church in Corinth, " In malice 
be children, * but in understanding be men;" 
and both utterances send us back to Christ, and 
we hear Him saying to the disciples : " Behold, 
I send you forth as shee^^ in the midst of wolves : 
be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless 
as doves." 

The plain, simple teaching of our text is : — 
1. 

That we are to be wise in all good things. 
To be, as Matthew Henry says, "skilful and 
49 



50 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



intelligent in the truth and ways of God." If 
our Master's significant words, " Be ye therefore 
wise as serjDents," mean anything, they clearly 
indicate that we are by no means to take leave 
of our common sense when we become Chris- 
tians, or enter upon Christian work. There is 
need of all the practical wisdom within our 
power to attain, in our life of adherence to 
good truths, good duties, and good people, lest 
we be imposed upon or deluded. 

" AVise but harmless " in every good cause is 
the Christian's motto. A herd of five thousand 
beeves were toiling over a lonely trail from New 
Mexico to Kansas, leaving behind them, across 
the plains and valleys, a swath as bare as if it 
had been swept by the fiery breath of a simoom. 
Suddenl}^ the leader of the herd, a huge steer, 
started back in terror, gave vent to a snort of 
warning, and moved to the right and passed on. 
Those immediately in his rear turned to right or 
left, and their example Avas followed by each 
long-horned pilgrim as he reached the dreaded 
spot. When the entire herd had passed, a wide, 
trampled track lay behind, but near the middle 
of this dusty space stood a luxuriant island of 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 51 



grass three feet in diameter. A herdsman rode 
up to the spot and dismounted, expecting to 
find a rattlesnake, a creature of which cattle as 
well as horses have a well-founded dread. In- 
stead of a serpent, however, the grass tuft con- 
tained onl}' a harmless kildee plover, covering 
her nest, while her wings w^ere kept in constant 
and violent motion. Seen indistinctly through 
the grass she had evidently been mistaken by 
the steer for a rattlesnake. She did not take 
flight even at the cowboy, but valiantly pecked 
at his boot as he gently pushed her one side to 
find that the nest contained four unfledged kil- 
dees. In the story of the little bird you have 
illustrated the wisdom of the serpent and the 
harmlessness of the dove. 

It seems strange, when we reflect upon it, 
that it should need such continued emphasis to 
make people understand and appreciate the 
necessity of appljdng as much stern common 
sense to the conduct of the spiritual life, and 
the management of the campaign against sin, 
as they are wont to exercise in secular affairs. 
It is exceedingly hard to rub into the conscious- 
ness of many good people that, when the every- 



52 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



day world of business and society is illuminated 
by electricity, travels by Pullman car and pala- 
tial steamship, converses by telephone and ocean 
cable, and reads hourly editions of its favorite 
journal, the church cannot keep pace in influ- 
ence and power with a tallow dip or ox team. 
In seeking to spread the reign of Jesus Christ 
over the hearts and lives of men, we must be 
true to our own time, "serve our own genera- 
tion," approach men and women in the language 
which is common to their ear. How well Jesus 
Christ understood this : " No man putteth new 
wine into old wine-skins : else the new Avine 
will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, 
and the wine perisheth, and the skins : but they 
put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both 
are preserved." 

There is such a thing as " new wine." God's 
order of progress has not been revoked. The 
church of our time has its own mission ; and, 
with God-given intuition, must evolve its own 
methods as truly as did the church in the days 
of the apostles, or of Luther, or of the Wesleys. 
Christianity is an ever-living force among living 
men ; and we must, with reverent hearts and 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 53 



hands, but with the daring of our noble birth- 
right as the " sons of God," forever adjust our 
methods to providences. In the language of 
Jesus, we must ''discern the signs of the times." 
"The common people are as ready to hear 
God's word to-day as ever in the history of the 
world, and as open of heart and as quick to 
respond, if we adapt ourselves to the situation 
and get their ear by speaking their tongue with 
a sympathetic brother's face behind it" (Pen- 
tecost). 

George Macdonald, the novelist preacher of 
England, tells in his book entitled " Robert Fal- 
coner," the story of the contrition of a soiled 
soul. Falconer was reading the story of the 
Magdalene to a company" of ordinary, prosaic 
sinners. Some one sobbed. It was a young, 
slender girl, wdth a face disfigured by small- 
pox, and, save for the tearful look it wore, poor 
and expressionless. Falconer said something 
gentle to her. 

" Will He ever come again ? " 

" Who ? " said Falconer. 

" Him — Jesus Christ. I've heard tell, I 
think, that He was to come again some day." 



54 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



"Why do you ask ? " 

"Because," — she said, with a fresh burst of 
tears, which rendered her words that followed 
unintelligible. But she recovered herself in a 
few moments, and, as if finishing her sentence, 
put her hand up to her poor, thin, colorless hair, 
and said : — 

'•''My hair ain't long enough to wipe His feet."" 
Oh, let us not forget that we are disciples of 
Him who came to seek and to save the lost, and 
not be above the planning and devising of wise 
methods which will accomplish the great com- 
mission given us by the Master. Wise to save 
a lost soul, as we are to save a child lost in the 
swamp, or a man lost overboard — that is what 
I plead for. 

Mrs. Farnino-ham sino-s it with g-reat clearness 
and power : — 

" A man was in the sea, 

How came he there ? 
Only the foolish asked ; 

The pressing care 
Was how to get him safely 

To the land- 
Not one but longed to stretch 

A helpful hand. 



SLNIPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 



The pitiless sea 

Against one half-spent man ! 
The mocking water hissed, 

The wild waves ran ; 
The winds laughed in his ears, 

The unfriendly cloud 
Beat him with raindrops 

Cruel, cold, and loud. 
A himdred would have risked 

Their lives for him; 
A thousand anxious eyes 

Were strained and dim; 
And helpless hands were wrung. 

And prayers were cried, — 
And still the desperate man 

Fought with the tide ! 

They could not launch a hoat 

So fierce the wave — 
Yet they could help the man 

Himself to save. 
And buoy and rope and rocket 

Were at hand, — 
At last, just living, 

He was drawn to land. 
It was a crowd of brothers. 

A great cheer 
Of thankful joy was raised, 

And many a tear 
Stole down rough cheeks; 

And yet a stranger he ! 
What filled that throng 

With wild and thankful gle^e? 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



And he was only one! 

Why all this care? 
Oh ! round ns is a sea 

Of dark despair; 
Not one, but many men 

Are struggling there. 
Listen ! and you must hear 

Their breathless prayer! 

He was a man, you say, 

That was enough ! 
But there are also men 

Who, in the rough 
And surging waters 

Of our restless life. 
Are beaten, bruised, half-drowned 

In the great strife ! 

Oh, foolish men to care 

So much for one, 
And not care for the many ! 

Let the sun 
Of God's light wake your hearts, 

And make you wise 
To see what is so plain 

Before your eyes. 

The men are in the sea, 

Throw them a rope; 
Watch them with pity. 

Give them words of hope. 
They may be saved 

By some strong brother's hand. 
They are Christ's men, 

Oh, draw them safe to land!" 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 57 



II. 

But there is only half of our message. 
While we are to be wise in that which is 
good, we are to be " simple concerning evil," 
"harmless as doves," and " in malice " are to be 
like " children." As one says, we are to be "so 
wise as not to be deceived, and yet so simple as 
not to be deceivers. It is a holy simplicity, not 
to be able to contrive, or palliate, or carry on 
any evil design." This Scripture is a sharp 
stab to the very heart of that Jesuitical proverb, 
" The end justifies the means." We are to 
conduct the campaign for righteousness in a 
frank, open-hearted way that does not depend 
in the slightest upon chicanery or trickery, but 
on straightforward justice and right. 

The editor of the Outlook very clearly sets 
forth this idea : " There are two qualities 
which are constantly coming to light in con- 
nection with almost every misunderstanding or 
disagreement among bodies of men who are 
working together for a common end. When 
such men fall out, it will generally be found 
that there has been, on the part of somebody. 



58 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



lack of courage or lack of frankness. Some- 
times sharp differences of view oblige men to 
separate and form new combinations ; but the 
great majority of differences which arise be- 
tween those who are working together are due 
to somebody's lack of courage and frankness. 
There is only one sound and wise way of man- 
aging common interests, and that is the way of 
absolute courage and frankness. If a group of 
men are to be controlled, it ought to be done 
by the methods of the statesman, not by those 
of the politician ; by force of ideas and vigor of 
presentation, rather than by avoidance of open 
discussion and by those private agreements 
which degenerate into intrigues. We are con- 
stantly tempted to distrust our fellows, and to 
seek to accomplish the things we have at heart 
by placating individuals and trying to bring 
them to support our views privately, instead of 
courageously trusting the good sense of others, 
frankly stating the thing we want done, and re- 
lying upon the validity of ideas and the force of 
the presentment to carry out our ends. It is a 
great blunder to manage a body of men by any 
method which lacks frankness and candor. In 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 59 



the long run, such a method is certain to under- 
mine the position of the man who uses it, and 
to bring down upon his head the structure 
which he has so carefully put together. The 
man who lacks frankness in dealing with other 
men is alwa3^s at a grave disadvantage when 
any misunderstanding of his method or attitude 
arises. The most innocent things he has done 
in the best possible spirit are construed against 
him. To face things squarely, to state them 
frankly, and to insist always on complete pub- 
licity and entire freedom of discussion, is the 
only sound method of dealing with organiza- 
tions of any kind." 

All great characters have been conspicuous 
by their simplicity, their dependence upon great 
principles instead of secret policies. When 
Savonarola was bound on the rack to draw 
from him the schemes which his enemies 
declared he entertained, he said, My secrets 
are few, because my purposes were great." 
There are no secret processes involved in great 
achievements. 

Poets, painters, orators, and sculptors are 
often besought by curious souls to tell the 



60 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



secret of their achievements. They are asked 
concerning their great nndertakings, again and 
again, How did you do this ? " The answer 
given by one of tlie greatest modern sculptors to 
a question of this kind is in point : A learned 
German professor who went to see Thorwaldsen 
in his studio, and was admiring one of his 
statues, began questioning him as to what 
course of study he had pursued. Thorwaldsen 
was at first puzzled, but said at last, " You 
want to know how I made this figure ? " 
"Yes," said the professor, "I should like very 
much to know." " Well," said Thorwaldsen, 
speaking very slowly and distinctly, "I took a 
board and bored a hole in it, then I took a stick 
and ])ut it to stand upright in the hole ; after 
that I got a tub with wet clay and plastered 
it around the stick, and then — I shaped it." 
Perhaps the professor was not much wiser than 
before. 

Carlyle emphasized the broad, free spirit in 
which all great things are fashioned and sus- 
tained in the phrase "the open secret" of the 
world. Not by scheming or underhanded plot- 
ting are we to grow in spiritual power, or to 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 61 



advance the cause of Christ, either in our own 
hearts or the world about us. Tlie real " king- 
dom of God" must not be confused in our 
minds with what may be only its cast-off shell, 
from which the soul has long since fled. We 
have in our day the sad spectacle of a great 
spiritual detective headquarters in the Vatican 
in Rome, Avhose boast is that for shrewd di- 
plomacy and intrigue in politics and religion it 
is unparalleled througliout the Avorld, and yet 
claiming to be the centre of the Christian 
religion. We turn from sach a sight ready to 
believe what Rev. Dr. J. W. Lee says in that 
brilliant book, " The Making of a Man " : Reli- 
gion is not what men need to get these days. 
AVhat the world is dying for and needing most 
of all is Christ. Religion is not a very good 
thing to have much of, unless it has been lifted 
and refined by contact with Christ. Many peo- 
ple have got too much religion ; it weakens 
them and disqualifies them for thorough, honest 
work. It makes them indolent and conceited, 
and often in the way of people who Avant to do 
needed Christian work. Such people should 
throw away their old wheezing, self-contained, 



62 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



self-included religion, and get the Lord Christ, 
the Way, the Truth, and the Life, into their 
lives. Cinist is truth, Christ is love, all 
summed up in the unity of a perfect, holy, 
divine life." 

Dr. A. C. Dixon recalls the story that once 
an electric car stopped in Boston, and one of 
the passengers asked, "What is the matter?" 

Oh," said the conductor, nothing but dirt 
on the track." The dirt broke the current of 
power. Oftentimes all our sharpness and pol- 
itic time-serving, instead of helping along, is 
only dirt on the track, hindering the work of 
God. 

The clean, frank, open heart — that it is, 
that, shining in the countenance, speaking in 
our Avords, and living in simple deeds, will tell 
for truth. " John," said an artist the other day 
to a Chinaman, who was unwillingly acting as 
a model, "smile. If you don't look pleasant, 
I'll not pay you." "No use," grumbled the 
washerman. "If Chinaman feelee ugly all the 
time, he lookee ugly " — which is as true of 
every other man and woman in the world as 
of John Chinaman. 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL (33 



Pie whose heart is frankly open fo Heaven's 
influence is like an artesian well ever sending 
forth living streams to bless the world. Faber 
expresses this thought beautifull}^ when he 
says : " There are souls in the world who have 
the gift of finding joy everywhere, and of leav- 
ing it behind them when they go. Joy gushes 
from under their fingers like jets of life. Their 
influence is an inevitable orladdenino- of the 
heart. It seems as if a shadow of God's own 
gift had passed upon them. They give light 
without meaning to shine. These bright hearts 
have a great work to do for God." 

And, finally, the result of this wise simplicity 
is that Satan's head is bruised. 

In the darkest hour of trial, in the midst of 
the most disheartening circumstances, God has 
always stood by His people who lived with 
open hearts and loyal purpose. They have 
bruised Satan's head in his very stronghold, 
and sung songs of victory with their feet upon 
his lustful, neck. 

Dr. Way land Hoyt tells how he was walking 
in one of the most squalid parts of London. 
The streets were long lines of low, blackened 



64 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



houses between which rolled the commonest 
traffic of the great town. It w^as bright sum- 
mer day, but the sun could only partly pierce 
the overhanging canopy of smoke. There were 
countless children, unkempt and ill-clothed, 
whose school and playground were the ver- 
dureless and solid sidewalks. The homes they 
came out of were the meanest and meagerest. 
The whole aspect was that of a sickening deso- 
lateness ; the whole place one of those sad 
blotches which greed and poverty and drink 
and dissoluteness gather and splash upon the 
fair, sweet order of God's world. Walking and 
musing thus, he was struck and startled by a 
bird's song — the strongest, cheeriest, soaring 
bird-note. He looked to see whence, amid such 
plight, the song could come, and saw in a small 
cage hanging by a poor window an imprisoned 
English skylark. The cage was small — just a 
few bits of wood nailed together — but within 
the cage there was a little patch of green sod, 
cut from some meadow. And amid the sod, 
with wings lifted as if for flight which would 
almost dare assault the sun, the brown bird was 
standing w4th head turned skyward, singing 



SIMPLICITY WHICH OUTWITS THE DEVIL 65 

its heart out, raining melody upon all the noise, 
dust, and filth around. 

So God gives His dearer singers ^' songs in 
tlie night." Paul and Silas shook down prison 
doors and struck oif iron chains with midnight 
melodies, and Bunyan saw through the walls of 
a dungeon into unspeakable glories. 0 broth- 
ers, fear not. Live frankly, openly, purely, 
and your very frankness shall outwit the ser- 
pentine cunning of the adversary of souls. 
Your feet shall stand upon his head, and upon 
the head of all the spiritual enemies of A'our 
soul. Tennyson says, in his tribute to Christ 
in the dedication of In Memoriam : " — 

" Thine are these orbs of light and shade; 
Thou madest Life in man and brute ; 
Thou madest Death; and lo, Thy foot 
Is on the skull which Thou hast made. 

Thou ^vilt not leave us in the dust : 

Thou madest man, he knows not why; 
He thinks he was not made to die : 

And Thou hast made him: Thou art just. 

Thou seemest human and divine. 

The highest, holiest manhood. Thou; 

Our wills are ours, we know not how: 
Our wills are oiu's, to make them Thine." 



66 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



And not only may we be cheered by promises 
of personal triumph, but we shall help on the 
victory of righteousness in the world. For 
Jesus Christ shall be King over all. 

In one of his last poems, after contemplating 
the sins and sorrows of the world, Tennj^son 
cries out triumphantly : — 

" Moaning your losses, O Earth, 
Heart weary and overdone! 
But all's well that ends well, 
Whirl, and follow the sun! 

He is racing from heaven to heaven, 

And less will be lost than won, 
For all's well that ends well, 

Whirl, and follow the sun ! 

The reign of the Meek upon Earth, 

O weary one, has it begun ? 
But all's well that ends well. 

Whirl, and follow the sun ! 

For moans will have grown sphere-music, 

Or ever your race be run ! 
And all's well that ends well. 

Whirl, and follow the sun!" 



lY 



THE SOUL'S EESOUPvCES 

" In the meanwliile liis disciples prayed him, saying, Mas- 
ter, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat tliat ye 
know not of. Therefore said tlie disciples one to anotlier, Hath 
any man brought him ought to eat ? J esus saith unto them, My 
meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his 
work." — John iv. 31-34. 

THE common tendency of life is toward ex- 
tremes. On one hand a wild fanaticism ; 
on the other, a sluggish, non-progressive conser- 
vatism. The silly chatter of empty giddiness 
holds one end of a line that rests its other end 
in the hand of the sour-faced, grumbling misan- 
thrope. The bright-eyed optimist who sees tri- 
umph in every opening cycle keeps pace with 
the gloomy-browed pessimist who walks on cof- 
fins and is sure that every century is hurling 
the nations and the race to final and irretriev- 
able disaster. The text suggests a nice balance 

between two such extremes. 

67 



68 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF ITlFE 



On one side is a starred independence, and on 
the other a childish and helpless dependence. 
The more common and more wretched soul is 
he who depends for every satisfaction on the 
Avhims, caprices, accidents, and vicissitudes of 
his own little social world. But it is given to 
us to possess some resources in ourselves, and 
entire dependence on others is a most dangerous 
habit of mind. The Master had meat to eat 
that even His faithful disciples knew not of ; 
and all good men have such nourishment. To 
live our own life, to have meat in ourselves, 
is a privilege of immeasurable value : and such 
a life is enriched and made fruitful by the 
showers of divine grace, and is illuminated by 
the light of divine love. 

I. 

Our first thought, then, as we come to study 
this suggestive picture in the life of Jesus, 
is : The Individuality of Life. 

Jesus came and walked His unheralded way 
of common life through the land of Palestine. 
Sometimes the multitudes thronged Him, and 
again He was alone among the mountains. One 



THE soul's HESOUilCES 



69 



day they spread palm branches in His path and 
cried " Hosanna I and on another they cried 
" Crucify him I '* but whether it were praise or 
blame ; whether the fickle tide of public feeling 
swayed toward Him as if to sweep Him onward 
to a throne, or surged backward to hang Him 
with thieves, He was the same self-possessed, 
patient, tender, forgiving, majestic character. 
He did not depend for success or peace of mind 
upon the multitude. There was an undercur- 
rent in this noble life that none of the eddies 
and tides and storms of public frenzy could 
reach for a moment. His life went calmly on 
to its work whether men praised or cursed. He 
had meat to eat that they knew not of. And so 
all lives which are free from tlie slavery of sin 
and fashion and habit, may live an individual 
life that circumstances shall not control, but that 
rather shall control and make circumstances. 

Emerson says, Every true man is a cause, 
a country, and an age." A man CsRsar is born, 
and for years after we liave a Roman Empire. 
Christ is born, and millions of minds so grow 
and cleave to His g^enius, that He is confounded 
with virtue and the possible man. An insti- 



70 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF 



LIFE 



tution is tlie lengthened sliadow of one man 
— monachism, of the liermit Anthony ; the 
Reformation, of Lnther ; Qnakerism, of Fox : 
Methodism, of Wesley ; abolition, of Clarkson. 
Scipio, Milton called "the height of Rome;" 
and all histoiy resolves itself very easily into 
the biography of a few stont, earnest persons. 
And what is true of these large sonls which 
greatl}^ impress the world with the power of 
their individuality might, in our own appropri- 
ate circle, be true of us all if we were not such 
miserable copyists. These great leading spirits 
have not worn out the virtues of life that made 
them great. And so marvellously has God ar- 
langed the balances of the universe that as 
great stake may hang upon your private act of 
to-day as followed their public and renoAvned 
footsteps." Tliere is more than one little ark 
of bulrushes at this moment liolding its possible 
Moses, wlio may, however, settle down into a 
mere Egyptian dude, and eat and drink in the 
idleness and flabby uselessness of a fasliionable 
career. How the woild halts and stumbles be- 
cause only one man or Avoman in a thousand is 
brave enough, and simple enough, to let the in- 



THE SOULS RESOURCES 



71 



dividuality of lieart and mind and soul, with 
which God has endowed every new man and 
woman, have free i)hiy. 

God is the one artist in tlie universe Avho 
needs never to repeat Himself in His pictures ; 
and yet in how many circles do Ave make it 
seem as if He had done nothing else but repeat. 
Some fiivolous. lieartless Frenchwoman puts 
the body of a little bird upon her hat and goes 
strutting down the street in her borrowed plu- 
mage, and the women of a half-dozen nations cry 
aloud for the lives of the innocent songsters, 
until the forests threaten to be depopulated. 
And this is only an illustration of what goes on 
in literature and art and morals. We need a 
revival of individuality — a revival of that keen 
sense of personal woitli and personal obligation 
which lies at the root of all deep earnestness. 

This p'r op er valuation of our Individuality be- 
comes important when we reflect that all the 
great voices of the universe that are speaking 
to us with purpose, to enlighten, develop, and 
lift us up toward heaven, speak only to our in- 
dividual being. These voices from the speak- 
ing earth and heavens, whether from nature or 



72 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



revelation, are indistinct or clear, tremnloiis or 
firm, full of meaning or void of meaning, ac- 
cording to the individual hearing of him who 
hears. One thus pictures our truth : — 

" A group of men stands facing the same 
long sea line. The same voices of sea and 
shore are sounding in the ears of each individ- 
ual of that group ; yet the message which is 
borne to each is different. It may be that each 
message brings new impulses to him that hears 
it, but the impulses Avill be as diverse as the 
messages. One listener catches a note in the 
deep harmony of earth and sea, and reproduces 
it in a new piece of music ; another embodies a 
revelation which came to him there in a poem ; 
a third is impelled to transfer his vision of glory 
to the canvas ; a fourth is drawn to a life of 
adventure on the ocean ; and a fifth hears only 
the voice that tells him of a favorable opportu- 
nity for investment in shore-lands." 

The poet tells us that, — 

" Along the shell- wreathed, shining strand 
The old and young went to and fro; 
The sinking sun filled all the land 
With evening's rich and ruddy glow. 



THE soul's resources 



The hot clouds in the amher west 
Lit up the sea-kissed, shingly bars, 

And weary ones who longed for rest 
Waited the dawning of the stars. 

There came the murmur of the sea 

Along the soft sands of the shore; 
'Twas laden with deep mystery, 

And music strange was in its roar. 
And, as the voices of the waves 

Were borne upon the listening ears, 
They sang alike of songs and graves, 

Of sunny hearts and sacred tears. 

There passed a little blue-eyed boy. 

As sank the sun on ocean's brim; 
Naught but the sound of endless joy 

Across the red waves came to him. 
For his bright fancy chased the sun 

O'er seas of emerald and gold; 
And the sweet life he had begun 

Its first fair scenes had now unrolledo 

With merry heart a maiden came 

The shining, sunlit sands along; 
To her the sea bore one dear name 

Amid the burden of its song; 
And the ten thousand glitterings 

That stretched across the sunlit bay 
Seemed messengers on golden wings 

From her true loved one, far away. 

There came a man of full fourscore 
Into the twilight all alone; 



74 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



To him the sea broke on the shore 
With solemn sway and sullen moan. 

The voices of the bygone years 
Came faintly on its sad refrain; 

Yet when he called, 'mid rising tears, 
On friends, they answered not again. 

Still sank the sun. Then rose the stars. 

And looked down on the cold, gray shore; 
Still solemnly the moaning bars 

Wailed low their music as of yore. 
And some with sad eyes met the night, 

To pass its watches all forlorn ; 
And some there slept 'mid visions bright 

Till dawned the fragrant, rosy morn." 

Like that is tlie sea of life, of etemit3^ Like 
it is the sea of knowledge. These personal, 
individual souls will hear echoes after their 
kind. 

A keen writer remarks that messages and im- 
2)nlses come to us from without, but they al- 
ways come from something there that is akin to 
ourselves. The revelation to us of that which 
is wholly alien to us is impossible. Science has 
■- shown it to be probable that there are intense 
lights around us which the human eye cannot 
see, simply because the human eye has nothing 
Avithin itself to answer to light undulations out- 



THE soul's RESOUECES 



75 



side of a certain maximum and minimum range 
of length. Many people can hear the strident 
cry of bats; others, with keener ears in every 
other respect, can never hear that cry, simply 
because their own aural chords have no corre- 
spondence to sound waves of that particular 
dimension. Strike a note on the piano, and tlie 
corresponding string of the violin in the room 
becomes vibrant, while the other strings remain 
silent. A voice has spoken, and a kindred voice 
calls to it across the distance. So, — 

"There is in souls a sympathy witli sounds; 
And as the mind is pitched the ear is pleased. 
With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave, 
Some chord in unison with what we hear 
Is touched within us and the heart replies." 

Ah, look well to your individuality. The 
air is full of harmonies struck from the great 
heart of the Infinite, and we are to add our part 
to that music. 

Our very existence here is a proof that in 
some way or other we have a special work to 
perform. Rev. Mark Guy Pearse relates that a 
piccolo player, thinking his instrument would 
not be missed among the crash of cymbals at a 



76 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Handel rehearsal, stopped playing. But Sir 
Michael Costa hushed the music of the whole 
orchestra, missing liim. So God may be wait- 
ing and listening now for music which is in 
your heart, and within your power to awaken. 

II. 

Then we have another important thought 
suggested ; Each human soul is sent into the 
world on a special mission. Jesus said, " My 
meat and drink is to do the will of him that 
sent me." What nobility that thought adds to 
life ! How it frees us from the narrow re- 
straints and circumstances that hedge in other 
men. Jesus could not afford to be bound by 
the narrow restraints and limitations of Judea. 
He w^alked across their most sacred traditions 
and they snapped under His feet like cobwebs. 
He was a great Divine Messenger sent to the 
world to save it at infinite sacrifice. He could 
not afford to come down to the temporary joy 
of pleasing it. Such a consciousness brings a 
like freedom to men to-day, and ennobles all 
common life. 

A poet tells the story of two singers : — 



THE soul's EESOFRCES 



77 



One touclit'd his futile lyre to please the ear 

And win the buzzing plaudits of the town : 
And sang a song that carolled loud and clear. 

And gained at once a blazing, brief renown, 
Xor he. nor all that crowd behind him. saw 

The ephemeral list of pleasant rh^Tners dead — 
Their verse once deemed a title without flaw 

To fame, whose phantom radiance long had fled. 

Another sang his soul out to the stars 

And the deep hearts of men. The few who passed 
Heard a low. thoughtful strain behind his bars, 

As of some captive m a prison cast : 
And w-hen that thrilling voice no more was heard, 

Him from his cell in f imeral pomp they bore : 
Then all that he had sung and written stirred 

The world's great heart with thoughts unknown before."* 

The man who feels that lie is sent of God to 
accomplish an important mission is filled with 
the power of a great 23urpose. He wlio is the 
messenger of the King l)ecomes deaf to the 
commands of all trivial persons. His soul 
is wrapped up in liis mission. 

A Russian officer was sent from Siberia to 
St. Petersburg in the dead of winter Avitli mes- 
sages of great importance to the Czar. He had 
to travel bv sledo-e. and for manv davs and 
nights without rest and almost entirely Avith- 
o'ut sleep. He hastened on his way till, worn 



78 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



and exhausted, he arrived at the palace, and 
was immediately taken to the Czar's presence. 
After giving his messages, the ofBcer, standing 
as he was, dropped his liead against the wall 
and was sound asleep. After a little time the 
Czar wished to ask him a question. Finding 
him asleep, he tried to waken him ; he shouted 
and hallooed, but to no effect. Finally he 
went to him and repeated in his ear : Your 
highness, the horses are now ready," and the 
man awakened with a start. Through all his 
long journey those words had been ringing in 
his ears at every station, and his soul had been 
possessed with the one thought of carrying his 
message swiftly through. 

The power of one great purpose frees us from 
bondage to many of the smallei' tyrants to 
which men and women who live aimless lives 
are subject. 

Victor Hugo wrote his Notre Dame " dur- 
ing the revolution of 1830, while bullets were 
whistling across his garden and barricades 
were being erected almost at his door. He 
shut himself up in one room, locking up his 
clothes lest they should tempt him to go out 



THE soul's resources 



79 



into the streets, and spent the whole of that 
winter w^rapped up in a big gray comforter, 
pouring his whole soul into his work. 

The noted literary lady, Mrs. Somerville, 
had the same power of becoming so absorbed in 
her work as to be unconscious of what was go- 
ing on around her. Dr. Somerville, her hus- 
band, told Harriet Martineau that he once laid 
a wager with a friend that he would abuse Mrs. 
Somerville in a loud voice to her face, and that 
she would take no notice ; and he did so. 
Sitting close to her, he confided to his friend 
the most injurious things — that she rouged, 
that she wore a wig, and other such nonsense, 
all uttered in a loud voice. Her daughters 
were in a roar of laughter, wdnle the slandered 
lady sat placidly writing. At last her husband 
made a dead pause after lier name, Avhen she 
looked up innocently, and said, " Did you 
speak to me ? " 

So if you will fill my heart and soul with the 
conviction that ni}^ life is dear to God, that He 
has made me in His own image and likeness in 
order that I might do some of His w^ork in the 
universe ; that I am not here somehow or other, 



80 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



by some strange freak or accident, but that the 
infinite wisdom of the Almighty and Eternal 
God has sent me here for a special purpose and 
to do work of great moment ; get me to believe 
that with all my heart, and how free and brave 
and strong do you make me ! I knoAV some 
people profess to believe that, and still live on 
shrinking, cowardly, indifferent lives ■ — lives no 
higher or braver than the dog in his kennel, or 
the ox in his stall. But no man or woman 
ever yet really believed that Avithout being 
filled with a strange exaltation. And such a 
consciousness is possible for us all. 

On the walls - of the National Gallery in 
London hangs one of the greatest paintings 
of Sir Joshua Reynolds. It is " The Infant 
Samuel." The picture tells the old familiar 
Bible story. It represents Samuel on that night 
in the temple when the Lord called him to that 
special work for which he was designed. He is 
represented just as he really was — a child sud- 
denly aroused from sleep, bewiklered by a voice 
that calls him, and simply and confidingly re- 
sponding to the direction of his aged guardian 
and friend to answer the voice. The upraised, 



THE soul's resources 



81 



astonisliecL yet trustful, young face is before 
us while we almost hear the half-parted, child- 
ish lips as they utter the words, " Speak, Lord; 
for thy servant heareth.*' 

Perhaps some of you are saying to yourselves 
that if God would come to you with a vision like 
that — so distinct and plainly marked — and 
point out your especial work, you would be able 
to enter upon it with assurance and with glad- 
ness. And yet has not God called you as dis- 
tinctly as He did Samuel ? There may not in 
your case have been the same old Jewish tem- 
ple, the dark midnight, the audible voice ; but 
these were only the accidents which surrounded 
this case. The call, equally as direct and im- 
pressive, might under other circumstances have 
come to him in his mother's clooryard at home. 

In some way, each in His own way, God calls 
each of us that he ma}- send us to our work. 
Open the ear, my brother, to the heavenly call I 

And there is this sublime comfort further to 
be remembered — that if we are conscious of 
being sent of God to our work, then we know 
our work itself must finally come to victory. 
If I am doing my own work, I have no reason 



82 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



to believe that it will last longer than the feeble 
hands that builcl ; but if it is God's work, and 
He has sent me to do it, I know that not one 
stroke of my feeble hammer shall fall un- 
noticed, or fall with empty echo down the halls 
of the ages ; and though I, and those who come 
after me for generations, may be gathered home 
before the temple of liberty and truth and per- 
fect manhood shall reach its top-stone, I know 
that top-stone shall be raised amid the shouts 
of a ransomed and redeemed universe. 

There is a beautiful legend of Walter von der 
Yogelweid, one of the principal minnesingers of 
the thirteenth century, how that, feeling his 
end to be near, he left all his treasures to the 
chapter of the Wiirzburg Cathedral, on the 
condition that the birds might be fed daily at 
noontide on his place of rest. And the legend 
tells how they were feasted every noon by the 
children of the choir, and how that, as time 
went on, the glad news was spread athwart the 
blue heavens in melodious joy from thousands 
of feathered throats, till to that tomb which was 
scattered over with grain as with the benison of 

" Day by day in vaster numbers 
Flocked the poets of the air." 



THE soul's resources 



83 



Time with gnawing tootli has long ago effaced 
from his tombstone the name of Vogelweid, and 
the spot where his bones lie no one knows ; but 
still the projecting eaves of Wiirzburg's min- 
ster towers echo the twitter of the pilgrim swal- 
low, its heart laden perchance with memories 
of Damascus or Carmel. The pious, grateful 
minnesinger who left such a sweet, provident 
legacy to his Avinged, melodious teachers now 
sleeps in the silence of oblivion, — 

"But around the vast cathedral, 
By sweet echoes multiplied, 
Still the birds repeat the legend 
And the name of Vogelweid." 

So God has made many a good man's grave 
to be scattered Avith food for those that came 
after him, and made the honest work of his 
long-ago-dead hands to re-echo in music of joy 
penturies after he has disappeared from the 
walks of men. 

III. 

And then our text is full of a great conclud- 
ing thought. We have suggested here the 
fTOijer food of the soul. 

Jesus says, " My meat is to do the will of 



84 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



him that sent me." If Jesus had depended for 
spiritual food on the human appreciation of the 
men He served, what a poor, beggared, starved 
life would have been His. But was ever life 
so full and rich in spiritual abundance as the 
life of Jesus ? His patience, charity, and for- 
giving love never gave out ; and the reason was 
in the fact that His food was received from a 
heavenly source. He had "meat to eat" that 
they knew not of. Christ's hidden meat was to 
do the will of the Father. Obedience fed Him. 
Fidelity refreshed His soul, and pure conduct 
made Him strong. If we are to do Christlike 
work among men, we must be fed with the same 
kind of meat, — obedience to God, fidelity to 
Him and His work, and purity of life. If we 
have such food, our souls will not famish merely 
because human honor or earthly rewards are 
denied to us. He who sits down with Jesus to 
such a banquet need not sorrow because the 
world has neglected to invite him to its feasts 
of pride. How indescribably precious is this 
truth! We may have a perpetual feast with 
the Master at the head of the table. In all the 
poverty of worldly resources that may threaten 



THE soul's RESOUECES 



85 



us with annoyance, we may draw without stint 
or limit upon the eternal treasury. 

Dr. Artliur Edwards, in an editorial of great 
power in the Nor time stern Christian Advocate 
some years since, says : " It is an awful thing 
to despise such an opportunity, and prefer the 
husks of pride to the bounties of eternal good- 
ness. Even the prodigal son found a bad taste 
in the husks ; all sinners, sooner or later, come 
to that bitter experience. There is only one 
abiding joy for men, and that is Christ's joy, the 
joy of doing the will of God. There must be 
an evil spirit within us when we turn away 
from this satisfaction and try once more, as 
millions have done before us, to gnaw some 
nourishment from the bones of vanity. There 
is a divine life in us, when we can, like the 
Master, nourish our joys on the purposes which 
drive us forward in the paths of obedience. Is 
it not worth while to ask on what do we feed 
our souls ? Let us ask ourselves the sources of 
the pleasures of the spirit. Let us take an in- 
ventory of our delights. Have we any which 
come from well-doing? Then we have a com- 
mon bond with the Master. His wealth was all 



86 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



of this sort ; He had no other ; and yet He was 
the richest soul in the fellowship of the race. 
You never tried His way of happiness sincerely 
witliout satisfaction ; and no other way has 
ever pleased or profited you long at a time. 
All the experiences of men which run parallel 
witli that of Jesus are happy experiences. All 
otliers run down inevitably into deca}^ and 
death. The yeai's become too numerous. The 
delights of the flesh pall on tlie palate; and 
strength succumbs to disease and death. This 
outward life is only a show of life — galvanized, 
as it were, into a spasmodic imitation of life, 
and relapsing into death Avhen the strange, con- 
cealed battery ceases to play upon the quivering 
flesh. It is a fire in a stove which must always 
be replenishing, and which no replenishing will 
keep burning very long." 

It is only the soul that truly lives, and may 
be fed with self-feeding forces. O brothers, 
sisters ! shall we not learn the secret of our 
blessed Master's self-centred and self-springing 
joy ? Shall we not — as He — learn to live on 
duties done, crosses borne, hopes resigned, and 
sorrows welcomed as the very angels of God ? 



THE soul's resources 



87 



Now, and ever, it is true that only in that sub- 
mission tliat can say, " Thy Avill be done," is 
there perfect nourishment and rest for a human 
souL Helen Hunt Jackson learned this lesson, 
and sings it to us in sweet and helpful lay, — 

"Blindfolded and alone I stand, 
With unknown thresholds on each hand ; 

The darkness deepens as I grope, 

Afraid to fear, afraid to hope ; 
Yet this one thing I learn to know 
Each day more surely as I go : 

That doors are opened, ways are made, 

Burdens are lifted or are laid, * 
By some great law unseen and still. 
Unfathomed purpose to fulfil, 
Not as I will. 

Blindfolded and alone I wait ; 
Loss seems too bitter, gain too late ; 

Too heavy burdens in the load. 

And too few helpers on the road ; 
And joy is weak, and grief is strong, 
And years and days so long, so long. 

Yet this one thing I learn to know 

Each day more- surely as I go : 
That I am glad the good or ill 
By changeless law are ordered still, 
Not as I will. 

' Not as I will ! ' The sound grows sweet 
Each time my lips the words repeat ; 



88 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



' Not as I will ; ' the darkness feels 

More safe than light when this thought steals 
Like whispered voice to calm and bless 
All unrest and all loneliness, 

'Not as I will,' because the One 

Who loved us first and best is gone 
Before us on the road, and still 
For us must all His love fulfil, 
Not as we will." 

One of the prettiest conceits in those quaint 
books' given us by "Uncle Remus " is put into 
the mouth of an old negro driver. He ran 
away from his old master, and could not be 
caught ; but an old lady bought him because he 
had saved the life of her son, and he surrendered 
himself and became a faithful servant. When 
his old mistress came to die, her wandering 
mind dwelt upon the negro who had served her 
so faithfully. She fancied she was making a 
journey. " The carriage goes smoothly along 
here," she murmured. Then, after a little pause, 
she asked, "Is David driving?" And the 
weeping negro from the corner of the room 
cried, " 'Tain't po' Dave, Mistis ! De good 
Lord done took holt er de lines." And so, 
dreaming as a child would dream, the old lady 



THE soul's EESOURCES 



89 



slipped from life into the better land. Dear 
brethren, tlie path will never seem so smooth, 
our chariot of destiny Avill never glide so swiftly 
toward its heavenly mansion, as wlien the Lord 
has taken the lines of our lives into His own 
hand. Shall we not gladlj- yield them to snch 
keeping even in this hour ? 



V 



AN EARNEST LIFE 

" Whatsoever thy hand fijicleth to do, do it with thy might; 
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, 
in the grave, whither thou goest." — Eccl. ix. 10. 

THE present age is largely in sympathy with 
this text. There is little charity shown for 
drones or sluggards, either in things temporal 
or spiritual. We are impatient of delay. The 
days of travel by stage-coach and sailing-vessels 
are soon to be forgotten. We are not willing 
to wait even for fast steamers to carry our news 
across the great waters. We tie the continents 
together with our iron cables, and send our 
lightning-winged messages under the sea, until 
we laugh at distance and space. The great 
channels of intercommunication are whetting 
the nations against each other until the sparks 
fly. It is an age of white heat. He who keeps 
pace with the world to-day does not want to be 

90 



AN EAR^'EST LIFE 



91 



napping by the way. He who wins must be in 
earnest, and look well to his gait, or he will be 
left behind. A popular author sa^'s, The 
secret of all worldly success is earnestness." 

My purpose is much broader and higher than 
to talk to you simply of worldly success. I 
come to speak to you as candidates for immor- 
tality, whose main interests lie in the vast 
future, who shall live when time is dead, and 
may shine when yonder sun is quenched. And 
as the work devolving upon us is so momentous, 
and the time allotted to us so short, I do not 
know of a passage in all the Bible better suited 
for our study than this that I have read. What 
we are to do must soon be accomplished. We 
are here to do tilings. And nothing but the 
active work Avhich is appointed to us can fill up 
the measure of our destiny. 

At a cratherina- of Socialists at Geneva, Swit- 
zerland, quite a dramatic close of a session of 
the so-called reformers was brought about by a 
suggestive incident. The speakers talked much 
of the real and fancied wrongs of the poor and 
the workingmen ; but when in the midst of his 
graceful periods a well-dressed dandy was asked 



92 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



by a brawn}^ grimy mechanic to show his hands, 
there arose a great uproar, and the meeting 
broke up in confusion. 

And so we are hastening on to the time, dear 
brethren, when the earnest Carpenter from 
Nazareth — He of the nail- wounded palm — • 
will demand of us all to show our hands for the 
signs of Christian toil. God grant that we may 
not be put to confusion by such a demand. 

Let us study, then, — 

THE ELEMENTS OF AN EARNEST LIFE. 

First of all we may say with assurance that 
an earnest life is the outgrowth of an earnest 
faith. The doubter is never in earnest. The 
man who only half believes his cause is right 
gives to it only faint-hearted service. The vol- 
cano is the outward manifestation of the hidden 
fire. Down deep in the earth it burns through 
the ages, until its energy can no longer be con- 
tained, and then it bursts its bounds in terrific 
explosions that shake the continent and tear 
the mountains asunder. So an earnest life is the 
outward manifestation of a hidden fire in the 
soul. A man becomes convinced of a great 



AN EARNEST LIFE 



93 



truth. A live, important, earnest faith takes 
possession of his being, becomes liis master ; 
and henceforth he is its obedient servant. You 
see this illustrated in the representative of 
every great reformation. William Lloyd Garri- 
son once, when his friends complained that he 
was too earnest, declared: "I am convinced 
that human slavery is wrong and only wrong. 
I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromis- 
ing as justice. On this subject I do not Avish to 
think or speak or write with moderation. Go 
tell a man whose house is on fire to give a mod- 
erate alarm ! Tell a mother moderately to 
rescue her babe from the flames where it lias 
fallen ! But do not urge me to use moderation 
in a cause like the present. I am in earnest — 
I will not equivocate ; I will not excuse ; I will 
not retreat a single inch ; and I will be heard. 
The apathy of the people is enough to make 
every statue of liberty leap from its pedestal, 
and to hasten the resurrection from the dead." 
There was earnestness for you ; and is it not 
easy to see that it was the outflow of a deep, 
earnest faith Avhich had taken possession of the 
man's soul? 



94 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



The poet says, — 

"Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes ; they were souls 
that stood alone 
While the men they agonized for hurled the contumelious 
stone ; 

Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam 
incline 

To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith 
divine. 

By one man's plain truth to manhood and to God's 
supreme design. 

By the light of burning heretics Christ's bleeding feet I 
track 

Toiling up new Calvaries ever with the cross that turns 
not back. 

And these mounts of anguish number how each genera- 
tion learned 

One new word of that grand Credo which in prophet- 
hearts hath burned 

Since the first man stood God-conquered with his face 
to heaven upturned. 

For humanity sweeps onward ; where to-day the martyr 
stands. 

On the morrow crouches Judas, with the silver in his 
hands ; 

Far in front the cross stands ready, and the crackling 
fagots burn, 

While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return 
To glean up the scattered ashes for history's golden 
urn." 



AN EARNEST LIFE 



95 



It is the earnest faith that gives the prophet 
eye, and the iron will that makes a man master 
of himself. It is related of Marshal Ney that 
once on going into battle he noticed that his 
knees were smiting together from fear. Look- 
ing down at them, he said : " You may well 
shake. You'd shake worse yet if you knew 
-where I am going to take you." That was Ney 
holding Ney to the line of duty in spite of the 
terror that curdled the blood ; and it was that 
self-mastery that gave him the reputation of 
"the bravest of tlie brave." So when our lives 
grow sluggish we may know that faith is losing 
its earnestness. Go to the fountain of faith ! 
Refresh the purpose at the feet of the Great 
Teacher, and the life will blossom with earnest- 
ness and power. 

Coupled with an earnest faith there must 
be an earnest love ; otherwise the life, however 
earnest, ma}^ grow hard and narrow. There is 
nothing like an earnest love to feed the rootlets 
of a life. It sweetens the bitterest cup of 
human toil. It makes self-sacrifice a joy. And 
nothing else has such a magical power over men 
around us as the conviction that we love them. 



96 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



There is a quaint, sweet story of a Scotch 
potter Avho had one small invalid child at home. 
He wrought at his trade with great fidelity, 
being always on hand at the opening hour. He 
managed to bear each evening to tlie bedside of 
the " wee lad," as he called him, a flower or a 
bit of ribbon, a fragment of crimson glass — 
indeed, anything that would lie out on the white 
counterpane and give a color in the room. He 
was a quiet, unsentimental Scotchman, but he 
never went home at nightfall without some toy 
or trinket, showing that lie had remembered 
the Avan face that lit up so when he came in. I 
presume he never said to a living soul that he 
loved that sick child so much ; still, he went on 
patiently loving him. And by and by he moved 
that whole shop into a positively real but un- 
conscious fellowship with him. The workmen 
made curious jars and teacups on their wheels, 
and painted diminutive pictures down the sides 
before they stuck them in corners of the kiln at 
burning-time. One brought some fruit in the 
bulge of his apron, and another some engravings 
in a rude scrap-book. Not one of them all said 
a word, for this solemn thing was not talked 



AN EARNEST LIFE 



97 



about. They put them in the old man's hat, 
where he found them and understood all about 
it. And that entire pottery full of men grew 
more quiet and kind as the months drifted. 
And some of the ungoverned ones stopped 
swearing as thej^ noticed the Aveary look on the 
old Scotchman's face, and knew that the inevi- 
table shadow was drawing nearer. Every day 
somebody did a piece of his work as the little 
lad grew worse, so that he could come later and 
go earlier. So one day when the bell tolled, 
and the little coffin came out of the door of the 
lowly house, there stood a hundred stalwart 
workingmen from the pottery, with their clean 
clothes, most of whom gave a half -day of time 
for the privilege of taking off their hats to that 
simple procession, filing in behind it, and fol- 
lowing across the village green to its grave that 
small burden of a child which probably not one 
had ever seen with his own eyes. 

Such is the power of love. An earnest love 
is a fountain from which flows an earnest life. 
If you wonder sometimes why you are so lack- 
ing in earnestness in trying to save men, study 
your own heart, and see if it is not a lack of love 



98 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



for them. Those we love we are earnest enough 
about, and love is the key that will unlock the 
heart that shows only a wall of iron to any 
other touch. 

But an earnest life must have a worthy 
object. The very conception of an earnest life 
along the line I have indicated is that of a life 
supremely devoted to God ; a life that feels 
keenly its personal responsibility ; a soul that 
realizes its own inherent grandeur, and there- 
fore the grandeur of every other human soul. 
We can express this devotion to God in two 
ways — by the purity of our own personal char- 
acter, and by helping others about us. So no 
soul can fail to manifest its devotion. We may 
be so hemmed in by our circumstances that we 
are helpless to do any outward act for God ; but 
none are so helpless but that by God's grace they 
can be pure and good, and thus serve Him by be- 
ing something if not by doing something. And 
sometimes to these silent lives of unstained 
purity God gives voices of great power in 
making the bad world better. 

Whatever we do with a sincere and honest 
purpose for our fellow-men as unto the Lord, 



AX EARNEST LIFE 



99 



He regards as done for Himself. The Saviour's 
description in ]^IattlieAv's record of tlie scenes 
of tlie final reclvonino" is most comfortino-. 
'•Then,'' said Jesus. shall tlie King say unto 
them on his right hand. Come, ve blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world: For I was 
an huno-red. and ve g-axe me meat : I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a 
stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye 
clothed me : I was sick, and ye A'isited me : I 
was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then 
shall the righteous answer him. savincr, Lord, 
when saw Ave thee an htmgred, and fed tliee? 
or thirsty, and gaA'e thee drink? When saw 
we thee a stranger, and took thee in ? or naked, 
and clothed thee ? Or AAdien saAv aa'c thee sick, 
or in prison, and came unto thee? And the 
King shall answer and say unto them. . . . In- 
asmuch as ye haA^e done it unto one of the least 
of these my brethren, ye haA'e done it unto me."' 
Lowell, in his poem recounting his story of 
Sir Launfal. beautifully pictures this truth. 
When the knight Avas young, he started out on 
a pilgrimage in search of the Holy Grail. As 



100 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



he started out he met a poor leper, but bent on 
his misguided quest he flung his alms to the 
beggar in contempt ; but as he comes back, 
worn with the struggle of life and sweetened 
by affliction and failure, he meets again a leper, 
and with tender heart shares with him his crust 
of bread, feeling that it is a service for Christ. 
Lowell says, — 

" Sir Laiinfal sees only tlie grewsome thing, 
The leper, lank as the rain-blanched bone, 
That cowers beside him, a thing as lone 
And white as the ice-isles of Northern seas 
In the desolate horror of his disease. 

And Sir Launfal said, ' I behold in thee 
An image of him who died on the tree; 

Mild Mary's Son, acknowledge me; 
Behold, through him I give to thee.' 

Then the soul of the leper stood up in his eyes 

And looked at Sir Launfal, and straightway he 

Remembered in what a haughtier guise 

He had flung an alms to leprosie, 

When he girt his yomig life up in gilded mail 

And set forth in search of the Holy Grail. 

The heart within him was ashes and dust; 

He parted in twain his single crust, 

He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink, 

And gave the leper to eat and drink. 

'Twas a mouldy crust of coarse brown bread, 

'Twas water out of a wooden bowl; — 



AN EARNEST LIFE 



101 



Yet with fine wlieaten bread was the leper fed, 
And 'twas red wine he dranlc witli liis thirsty soul. 

As Sir Launfal mused with a downcast face, 

A light shone round about the place; 

The leper no longer crouched at his side, 

But stood before him glorified. 

Shining and tall and fair and straight 

As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful Gate, — 

Himself the Gate whereby men can 

Enter the temple of God in man. 

His words were shed softer than leaves from the pine, 

And they fell on Sir Launfal as snow on the brine, 

That mingle their softness and quiet in one 

With the shaggy unrest they float down upon; 

And the voice that was softer than silence said, 

' Lo, it is I, be not afraid ! 

In many climes, without avail. 

Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail; 

Behold, it is here, — this cup which thou 

Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now; 

This crust is my body broken for thee, 

This water his blood that died on the tree ; 

The Holy Supper is kept, indeed. 

In whatso we share with another's need; 

Not what we give, but what we share. 

For the gift without the giver is bare ; 

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, 

Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me." 

The support of an earnest life must be, first 
and last, reliance upon God. God is its origin 



102 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



and its strength. No man can lead such a life 
without knowing that he stands not alone ; that 
an almighty Arm is stretched out for liis sup- 
port. Caesar once said to a ferryman who was 
fearful of wreck in a storm, " Fear not, thou 
carriest Csesar and his fortunes." So the really 
earnest soul is horne up with the conviction 
that he cjinnot fail, since he carries the destiny 
of truth, the fortunes of God. No man has a 
solid foundation on whicli to build an earnest 
life who does not have an almighty faith in the 
immortality of truth, the ultimate triumph of 
every right over every wrong. The old Ger- 
man poet. Von Logau, more than two hundred 
years ago said, — 

" The mills of God grind slowly, 
But they grind exceeding small. 
Though with patience He stands waiting, 
With exactness He grinds all." 

HoAV they grind, those solemn mills of God ! 
The glacier is one. In its snail-like but tire- 
less flow, it grinds from the primitive rocks 
that which will by and by be soil. The rain 
and the snow are mills of God. Through 
them not only is life supported on the earth, 



I 



AX EARNEST LIFE 103 

but from the mountain-sides the eartli and the 
rock are washed away to malve fertile the val- 
leys. The sunlight is still another. Through 
its noiseless grinding the earth and the air 
grow warm, flowers spring up, and harvest 
fields grow golden. The rivers are the mills 
of God. As they grind their way they become 
the arteries through which the life of cities and 
nations is sustained. The ocean is the might- 
iest mill of all. But for its steady grinding all 
life would cease on the earth : the earth itself 
would become btit the corpse of a Avorld. These 
mills have been forever o^rindino-. since through 
the first one the gases which floated in space 
were drawn, and this planet Avas rounded into 
form. These solemn mills of God are oTindino- 
away the earth. When thirsty, we drink a 
glass of water, and bless the fountains which 
feed the stream upon the mountain-side. The 
real fountain is probably the Indian Ocean, and 
the cup of water of which we drink perhaps 
made a part of the water in which wliales were 
playing two years ago. off the coast of Asia. 
In an elevator in one of the mills of God it was 
picked up from the hot seas : the trade Avinds, 



104 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



which are part of the motive power of those 
mills, bore it northward ; as the earth revolved, 
the wind which blew straight was made to 
seem to bend to the east; the cloud, a hopper 
of the mill, which received it from the elevator, 
was carried over the Cascade Mountains. In 
the cool chambers of the air the cloud was con- 
centrated, and the moisture fell upon the moun- 
tains in purest snow. Under the grinding of 
the summer sun the snow turned to water ; the 
fissures of the immemorial rocks opened their 
gates to receive it ; from them it found its way 
to the surface lower down ; and these made 
the source of the creek or river from whicli 
our thirst was quenched. So these mills grind 
out their mercies perpetually, and man accepts 
them, sometimes gratefully and sometimes in- 
differently. But the mills grind on. 

The mills of God have been grinding on 
human hearts for, lo ! these sixty recorded cen- 
turies ; and though it is the hardest work they 
ever tried, still they grind on, grinding out the 
base ores, and treasuring up the gold. Whole 
races rise up as tyrants and oppressors, and 
place their foot of power on the neck of the 



AN EARNEST LIFE 105 

weaker races, and declare that serfdom, not 
freedom, shall be the law of life. Men hunt 
their brothers with bloodhounds, and tear 
Bibles to pieces to make poultices for the lacer- 
ated consciences ; but all the time the solemn 
mills of God keep their crushers and shaking 
tables running, until they grind out slavery and 
grind in the liberty of man. And so to-day the 
mills are grinding, and the quartz, the mixed 
rock and earth and gold in principle and life, 
is being tossed into the hopper by brawny 
hands. 

There goes in much of wrong and sin. I 
look abroad, and I see states and nations that 
frame mischief by a law." I see governments 
that give to one man power to put that to his 
neighbor's lips which makes him a slave. I see 
multitudes, reeling, staggering, falling to their 
death under a legalized system of murder. I 
see a world thronging with paupers and beg- 
gars, who are the victims of a legalized system 
of robbery. I hear the sighing and moaning of 
millions of the broken-hearted, that break on 
the ear like the sad wail of the angiy, storm- 
beaten sea, whose hearts are broken under a 



106 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



legalized system of cruelty ; and yet I hear 
Christian men standing even inside the pulpit 
of God's house to utter their doubts as to 
whether it will ever be overturned. Ah, sir, 
no man who does not trust God more than that 
will ever be an earnest worker for the uplifting 
of humanity. If you are ever tempted to 
doubt, go out in the stillness of the niglit and 
listen, as you scan the world of stars, to the 
grinding of those grand old mills of God, be- 
tween whose mighty burrs all wrong shall be 
ground to powder, and only gold be saved. In 
the atmosphere of such a confidence only can a 
man enter upon a career of divine earnestness 
to which God is calling all of us. 

And then, in conclusion, let us listen to the 
motives for an earnest life. We have only to 
listen to the text, " For there is no work, nor 
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
grave, whither thou goest." No time to be 
lost ; no trifling with life's work, for the grave 
is at hand ; what we are to do must be done 
now or never. A soldier condemned to die 
once crowded himself into the presence of 
Frederick the Great, with an order for a pardon 



AN EARNEST LIFE 



107 



» in his hands, and said, " Sire, can I have one 
word with you ? " " Yes," said the testy mon- 
arch, " one word, and if you utter more than 
one you lose your head." The soldier, pos- 
sessed by the great earnestness of his desire for 
life, thrust the paper before the king's face and 
shouted, " Sign ! " So our time is so brief, it is 
necessary for us to train ourselves down to ac- 
tion, find out Avhat there is for us to do, and do 
it with our might. In this short, school-day 
period of existence we are training a life which 
is to outlast the ages. 

Among the Hartz Mountains in Germany, 
there is a spot up to which tourists are often 
asked to walk in the after part of the day, in 
order that they may see what is called the 
Spectre of the Brocken. A vast reach of hills 
appears terraced away into the distance, across 
whose blue expanse a great figure in human 
shape is seen moving. Now, it requires some 
little attention before one can discover that this 
phenomenon is only his own shadow projected 
by the sun behind his back. That brow, whose 
nod seems as if it might shake the universe, is 
simply his own forehead; that hand, which 



108 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



might grapple with the Titans, is only his own 
with the staff in it that he climbed up by. 

Here is a picture for our study. This charac- 
ter being formed now is to be projected forward 
upon the mountains of the unexplored eternity. 
Even at this moment it begins to exhibit the 
vastness of its future. It is not this arm you 
are waving, but that of yonder giant ; it is not 
this foot you are leading onward, but that of 
the giant. It is not this life at all, but that 
other life, wherein lies the majesty, and wherein 
centres the hope of your entire being. 

Then let me close as I began, Whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; 
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." 



VI 



ANXIETY, ITS DANGER AND ITS CURE 

" In nothing be anxious ; but in everything by prayer and 
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made 
known unto God." — Phil. iv. (5 (R. V.). 

ANXIETY is a wholesale trouble-maker. It 
demoralizes its victim, and robs him of his 
wonted power in the wise ordering of his life. 
The wholesome, quiet mind, with all its re- 
sources at command, is needed in the successful 
performance of the duties which constantly con- 
front us on the voyage of life. The sea-captain, 
after his vessel has passed out of sight of land, 
depends upon his chronometer and his compass. 
If these instruments fail him, then everything 
fails. And what the chronometer and compass 
are to the master of a ship, the sensitive and 
loyal fidelity of the powers of the human mind 
is to the success of our life voyage. Anything 
that unbalances the judgment and causes a 
109 



110 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



panic in the brain, may cause the wreck of all 
our hopes. 

I do not mean, and the Scripture does not 
teach, that we are not to wisely prepare for the 
duties and dangers of to-morrow. As has been 
said : " To foresee trouble and get ready for 
it is not to borrow trouble. The foreseen 
trouble actually comes to us ; the borrowed 
trouble is unnecessarily added. At this mo- 
ment, when so many are unable to borrow 
money on what would ordinarily be good secu- 
rity, every man finds himself able to borrow 
trouble without putting up any collateral. 
Trouble is to be had in every market, and every 
man can take as much as he chooses. The 
more he borrows, however, the less likely will 
he be able to successfully deal with what actu- 
ally comes to him. It is a fact of experience 
which we are slow to learn, tliat the trouble we 
borrow never would have been ours in any 
other way. We appropriate what would never 
come to us otherwise. The real troubles of life 
are numerous and hard enough, but they consti- 
tute a very small proportion of its trials in com- 
parison with imaginary troubles. To deal sue- 



ANXIETY, ITS DAXGER AND ITS CUKE 111 



cessfully Avith the real troubles, we must refuse 
to consider the imaginary ones." 

Heiirv Ward Beecher once drew a vivid pic- 
ture of how unholy passions sometimes work 
upon the soul as a mighty tempest beats upon 
the ocean and laslies it into Avild fury : " Fear 
sits in the window. 'What seest thou?' says 
Vanity. ' Whisperings are abroad,' says Fear. 
' Men are pointing at you — or they \yill as 
soon as you come to a point of observation.' 
' Oh, my good name I ' sa3-s the man. • All that 
I have done ; all that I have laid up — Avhat Avill 
become of that ? Where is my reputation go- 
ing ? What will become of me Avhen I lose it, 
and Avhen folks turn away from me ? O trou- 
ble I trouble I it is coming I " What is it ? 
Fear is sitting in the Avindow of the soul, and 
looking into the future, and interpreting the 
signs thereof to the loA^e of approbation in its 
coarsest and lowest condition. 

Fear still sits looking into the future, and 
Pride, coming up, says, 'What is it you see?' 
' I see,' says Fear. ' your castle robbed. I see 
you topple down from your eminence. I see 
you under base men's feet. I see you AA'eak- 



112 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



ened. I see you disgraced. I see your power 
scattered and gone.' ' O Lord ! what a world 
this is ! ' says Pride. Now, that man has not 
had a particle of trouble. Fear sat at the win- 
dow and lied. And Pride cried, and Vanity 
cried, and Avarice cried — and ought to cry. 
Fear sat and told lies to them all. Fear has a 
kaleidoscope which is full of broken glass, and 
it gives false pictures continually." 

If you are to live a life full of usefulness and 
beneficence, you must not look at the universe 
through the lens of your fears. For fear is al- 
ways seeing wrong. But every man or woman 
who takes hold of life with courageous vigor, 
and lives it in unswerving faith, not only insures 

peace which passeth all understanding " to 
their own souls, but makes life richer and larger 
to countless thousands of their weaker fellows 
in life's battles. 

But how may I cure this disposition toward 
anxiety which is within me ? First of all, by 
reminding myself of the divine good-will toward 
me. God is, and is a rewarder of those who 
faithfully serve Him. The darkness turns to 
light, and the anxiety to confidence, when we 



ANXIETY, ITS DANGER AND ITS CURE 113 

grasp the conception of God's personal care for 
us. 

A missionary among the Indians rehates this 
incident. Some years ago an Indian stood at his 
door, and, as he opened the door, knelt at his 
feet. Of course he bade him not kneel. But 
the Indian said, " My father, I only knelt be- 
cause my heart is warm to a man that pities the 
red man. I am a wild man. M}" home is five 
hundred miles from here. I knew that all the 
Indians east of the Mississippi had perished, 
and I never looked into the faces of my dear 
children that my heart was not sad. My father 
had told me of the Great Spirit, and I have 
often gone out into the woods and tried to talk 
to Him." Then he said, so sadly, as he looked 
in the minister's face, " You don't know what 
I mean. You never stood in the dark and 
reached out your hand and could not take hold 
of anything. And I heard one say that you had 
brought to the red man a wonderful story of the 
Son of the Great Spirit." Tliat man sat as a 
child, and he heard anew the story of tlie love 
of Jesus. When they met again he looked in 
his friend's face and said, as he laid his hand 



114 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



on his heart, "It is not dark ; it laughs all 
the while." 

And my heart cannot help laughing, my 
brother, when I feel that, — 

" The winds that o'er my ocean run 
Reach through all worlds, beyond the sun, — 
Through life, through death, through fate, through time. 
Grand breaths of God, they sweep sublime. 

Eternal trades, they cannot veer, 
And, blowing, teach us how to steer; 
And well for him whose joy, whose care, 
Is but to keep before them fair. 

O thou God's mariner, heart of mine, 
Spread canvas to the airs divine ! 
Spread sail ! and let thy fortune be 
Forgotten in thy destiny. 

A thread of law runs through thy prayer. 
Stronger than iron cables are; 
And love and longing toward her goal 
Are pilots sweet to guide the soul." 

Our anxiety and unrest are often born of the 
close, smothering atmosphere into which we try 
to crowd our souls — thus shutting out the pres- 
ence of God. Professor Drummond grandly says, 
" The soul, in its highest sense, is a vast capa- 
city for God. It is like a curious chamber added 



ANXIETY, ITS DANGER AND ITS CURE 115 

on to being, — a chamber with elastic and con- 
tractile walls, which can be expanded, with 
God as its guest, inimitably ; but which, with- 
out God, shrinks and shrivels until every ves- 
tige of the divine is gone, and God's image is 
left without God's spirit. Nature has her re- 
venge upon neglect as well as upon extrava- 
gance. Misuse, with her, is as mortal a sin as 
abuse." 

But when we open our hearts to God every- 
thing changes. Our attitude to the whole uni- 
verse changes. We are no longer orphaned and 
alone ; we are in our Father's house. All teach- 
ing, all material things, all human activities, all 
present experience, all future experience — all, 
all are ours. Why? How do they become 
ours? Paul tells us why. Because we are 
Christ's, and Christ is God's. They are ours 
because they belong to Christ, and we belong 
to Christ. They are Christ's because Christ 
belongs to God, and all things belong to God. 
The house belongs to the children because it 
belongs to the Father. 

Dr. Lyman Abbott graphically sets forth this 
trusteeship, which is held for our good in every 



116 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



power that touches our lives: You go into a 
hospital ; here are the wards, here the beds, 
here the medicines, here the surgical apparatus; 
and it all belongs to the medical faculty, but 
for a purpose : it is theirs because put in their 
hands in trust to work out the cure of their 
patients. They are not to say, These are poi- • 
sons ; they are dangerous ; we must put them 
away ; we must not use them. They must 
learn the danger, and what is the Avrong way 
and what the right way to use the poisons, and 
use them for the purpose for which they are 
given. 

You go on board a great ocean steamer, and 
the moment the steamer leaves her dock you 
are under the absolute control of the captain ; 
he is an autocrat, so far as the crew and passen- 
gers are concerned : the whole steamer belongs 
to him. He can shut you in your room, he can 
put you in irons, and there is no revolt possible. 
Why is it his ? It is his that he may carry you 
safely across the ocean. If he uses this power 
that is put into his hands for himself and his 
own benefit, then he is recreant. When the 
Oregon, coming along the Atlantic coast, was 



ANXIETY, ITS DANGEK AND ITS CURE 117 

struck in the middle of the night by that 
coaster, and a great wound was made in her 
side, through wliich the water was pouring. 
Captain Murray stood on the bridge as calm, 
apparently, as a May morning, and waited un- 
til every passenger was off, and every officer 
was off, and every man in the crew was off\ and 
the last man to step from the sinking ship was 
the captain himself ; and ten minutes after he 
stepped off, the steamer gave a quiver, as of 
apprehension, and then plunged to the bottom 
of the ocean. The steamer was his, and the 
men were his, and the boats were his, and the 
passengers were his, all for this : that he might 
save them in time of peril ; and he should go 
down to the bottom of the ocean rather than 
that, by his recreancy, one of those intrusted 
to him should perish. That is the reason why 
all things are yours and mine — because we are 
Christ's, and Christ is God's. He says, " I am 
the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, . . . 
and I lay down my life for the sheep." 

Oh, that we may catch the spirit of Paul's 
triumphant words ! If we do, we shall be able 
to live in the atmosphere of Peter's injunction — 



118 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



'^casting all your care "upon him, for he careth 
for you." Some poet, studying these words, 
has breathed a song which may help us all, — 

" What can it mean ? Is it auglit to Him 
That the nights are long and the days are dim ? 
Can He be touched by the griefs I bear, 
Which sadden the heart and whiten tlie hair ? 
Around His throne are eternal calms, 
And strong, glad music of happy psalms, 
And bliss unruffled by any strife — 
How can He care for my poor life ? 

And yet I want Him to care for me, 
While I live in this world where the sorrows be. 
When the lights die.down on the path I take ; 
When strength is feeble and friends forsake ; 
When love and music, that once did bless. 
Have left me to silence and loneliness; 
And life-song changes to sobbing prayers — 
Then my heart cries out for a God who cares. 

When shadows hang o'er me the whole day long. 
And my spirit is bowed with shame and wrong; 
When I am not good, and the deeper shade 
Of conscious sin makes my heart afraid ; 
And the busy world has too much to do 
To stay in its course to help me through; 
And I long for a Saviour — can it be 
That the God of the universe cares for me ? 



Oh, wonderful story of deathless love ! 
Each child is dear to that Heart above. 



AlSrXIETY, ITS DA^'GER AXD ITS CURE 119 



He fights for me when I cannot fight; 
He comforts me in the gloom of night; 
He lifts the burden, for He is strong; 
He stills the sigh and awakens the song; 
The sorrow that bowed me down He bears, 
And loves and pardons, because He cares. 

Let all who are sad take heart again, 
We are not alone in our hours of pain ; 
Our Father stoops from His throne above 
To soothe and quiet us with His love. 
He leaves us not when the storm is high. 
And we have safety, for He is nigh. 
Can it be trouble which He doth share ? 
Oh, rest in peace, for the Lord does care." 

We shall be able to come to this assurance of 
God's interest in us and personal love for us by 
communion with Him. Listen to the injunc- 
tion of the text, " In everything by prayer 
and supplication with thanksgiving let your re- 
quests be made known unto God." 

A sainted mother, who lived to an old age, 
spoke often of the " mount of vision." When 
she was a young mother she had all her own 
housework to do, and a large family made 
constant demands upon her time and strength. 
" I had so much work in the valley," she would 
say, " that if it had not been for the ' mount of 



120 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



vision,' I could not have possessed my soul in 
patience. Wlien I became impatient, and in- 
clined to be what many of us call nervous, 
ready to speak quick words and pass unjust 
judgment, I would go alone into my bedroom, 
and, shutting the door, tell it to Jesus. That 
room was my ' mount of vision ; ' for I always 
saw Avith a clearer light my weakness, and 
received strength from the Lord to administer 
my government in the home with equity and 
more of a Christlike spirit." 

Not only in home affairs, but in the gravest 
matters of statesmanship and the most tiying 
turmoil of business cares, God has met His 
saints, relieved their anxiety, and given them 
peace and power. 

Nehemiah went before the Persian king in 
regard to the broken walls of Jerusalem, after 
days and nights of prayer; and God gave him 
such resources of argument and such pathos of 
appeal that every obstacle melted before him. 
Job talked with God in the midst of a business 
panic that seemed hopeless ; and peace and 
composure and prosperity came back to him. 

Nothing can give us over to anxiety if we 



ANXIETY, ITS DANGER AND ITS CURE 121 



keep close in touch with God. The future, as 
well as the past, we can safely trust to Him. 
In life or in death we may confidently sing, 
with our own Whittier, - 

" I know not where His islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air; 
I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond His love and care." 

And Baxter agrees with Whittier, — 

" My knowledge of that life is small; 
The eye of faith is dim; 
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, 
And I shall be with Him." 

And, best of all, they both agree with Jesus : 
"Let not your heart be troubled. ... In my 
Father's house are many mansions. ... I go 
to prepare a place for you. ... I will come 
again, and receive you unto myself ; that where 
I am, there ye may be also." 



VII 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAN ? 



HRIST is the pivotal thought, the central 



\J fact, in Christianity. The entire system re- 
volves around a person — the Lord Jesus Christ. 
One has well said, " The person of Jesus 
Christ comprehends all there is of it, and with- 
out this person there is nothing left that is 
distinctly Christian." Other religions may be 
entirely separated from the founder or teacher 
who originated or put them into shape, and 
yet lose nothing that is essential to them. Not 
so with Christianity. It is altogether personal. 
It can in no wise be separated from the person 
of Jesus Christ. The first great fact lying at 
the foundation of all discussion of what it is to 
be a Christian is that Jesus Christ was the first 
Christian. I have read a homely story some- 



" To be a Christian." — Acts xxvi. 28. 




122 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 123 



where tliat illustrates the practical phase of this 
whole problem. 

" The parson asked a strange question this 
evening," said John Sewell to his wife Ann, on 
his return from church one Sunday. 
What was it, John ? " 

" ' Who has seen Christ in you to-day ? ' I 
wish you had been there to hear him, Ann ; he 
made it pretty plain that all who love Christ 
ought to show by their conduct that they are in 
earnest." 

" That's true, John. I know I often fall short 
of what a Christian ought to be." 

" I am sure that you and the children have 
not seen Christ in me to-day. If I'd remem- 
bered to be like my Master, I should not have 
been so cross with you because you wanted to 
take your turn out this morning." 

''And I shouldn't have snapped you up so, 
and been so vexed,'' interrupted Ann. 

" Then I used Tom roughly because he wor- 
ried me ; and when he cried I boxed his ears, 
when a kind word would have made all right. 
There are plenty of things I should have done to- 
day if I had acted up to the parson's question." 



124 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



We'll try to begin fresh, John. You're 
quick, and I get vexed. We've both a deal to 
learn. We must just pray that the children 
and our friends may see Christ in us." 

Monday morning came. John was up early ; 
and before he went off to work he asked that 
Christ might be in him that day. Ann did not 
forget that she, too, wished that Christ might 
be seen in her ; and at breakfast-time the chil- 
dren were told how Christ might be seen in 
them, and they were cautioned to be kind to- 
wards one another and towards their compan- 
ions. Thus throughout the family tempers were 
quelled for Christ's sake, and pleasant acts were 
performed for Christ's sake ; and John was able 
in that same streno-th to ask a fellow-workman 

o 

to forgive the sharp words he had spoken to 
him the previous Saturday. 

" I've had the happiest day I ever spent," 
John remarked to his wife that evening. I 
know I've long been a professor, but I have not 
shown by my behavior that I do really want 
Jesus to be seen in me." 

" I am sui-e it has been just the same with 
me," replied Ann. 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAX ? 125 



I know why some of our fellows in the shop 
find fault Avith religious people, and call them 
no better than those Avho haA^e no religion at 
all. We Cliristians are not shining lights: AA-e 
get into the same tempers, and use the same 
sharp words, and do the same actions, as men of 
the world, and aa'c bring re^^roach on Jesus."' 

" Tliat"s AA^ell said, John. I mean to ask my- 
self eyery night, • Who has seen Christ in me 
to-day? " I know that I shall often haye to tell 
God that l*A'e failed ; but Jesus aa^II help me to 
be true to Him, and you knoAy there is a text 
that saj's, ' I liye, jet not I, but Christ liveth 
in me.' " 

Let our foundation stone rest in our minds, 
then, that first of all a Christian is a man or 
Avoman in this AA^orld to represent Christ. Let 
us trace some features of that character drawn 
in the Gospel Avhich make it proper to call the 
possessor of it a Christian. 

1. A Christian is one Ayho accepts Christ's 
estimate of character. 

Christ makes eyerything kneel down and AA'or- 
ship in the presence of character. Through one 
of the old prophets God said, Look not on his 



126 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



countenance, or on the height of his stature ; 
. . . for the Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for 
man looketh on the outward appearance, but the 
Lord looketh on the heart." You remember 
the Greek story which tells us how the old phi- 
losopher, whose soul was filled with disgust at 
the depravity and folly of his age, in bitter sar- 
casm went up and down the streets of Athens, 
at midday, with a lighted lantern in his hand, 
seeking for an honest man. If he had been a 
wiser philosopher he would have known that 
manhood is not discoverable by the light of 
any earthly lantern. The Gospel represents the 
standard of divine judgment as depending alto- 
gether upon character. If you would find one 
of the pivotal passages of Bible truth, go to the 
twelfth chapter of Luke, and read the words of 
Jesus, " A man's life consisteth not in the 
abundance of the things wdiich he possesseth." 
There is a vast difference between the posi- 
tion of the world and the Christian's position at 
this pivotal point. The world, except so far as 
Christ has permeated it, exalts everything else 
above character, setting the things upon and 
around the manhood above the manhood itself. 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 127 



The faultlessly dressed young man or young 
woman of the world passes the plainly clad sage 
or saint by Avith a smile of supreme contempt. 
The unjust jndge in many American common- 
wealths, to-day as in olden times, despises the 
poor widow who urges her cause before him, 
but hearkens to the most infamous power in the 
land, because of " the abundance of the things 
which that infamous power possesseth." The 
Dives of to-day, as of yesterday, sees Lazarus at 
the mercy of the dogs without inquiring into or 
suspecting the manhood there which holds com- 
munion with the angels. Many a scholar holds 
no intercourse with an ignorant man. A man 
whose only abundance it ma}^ be consists in a 
white skin, and even that reddened with the 
wine of wickedness, is full of contempt and dis- 
dain for tlie yellow Chinaman or the red Indian, 
ready to trample them all alike under his foot, 
thouofh the one be as wise as Confucius and the 
other as tender-hearted as Pocahontas. If Jesus 
of Nazareth Himself, with all His matchless no- 
bility of character, under the guise of a yellow 
instead of a Jewish face, had been in Seattle 
last springtime. He would have been pelted 



128 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



through the street with rocks ; or in Wyoming, 
would have been murdered in His bed, as were 
some of His faithful followers. But the Chris- 
tian standard remains, and all the while it is 
true that the true Christian accepts as his own 
this Christly standard of judgment — character. 

2. Again, the Christian accepts the sacrifice 
of Christ as the redemption of his personal soul 
from sin. The fact of sin is sustained by the 
universal consciousness. The great question 
everywhere, under all forms of worship, is : 
"How shall a man be just with God?" That 
question underlies every heathen temple, every 
Mohammedan mosque, and every idol shrine on 
the earth. 

A lady was sitting on her veranda in India, 
reading. She heard the tramp of some one run- 
ning very fast, and presently a boy bounded 
into her presence, all out of breath. 

" Does Jesus Christ live here ? " was his 
cry. 

The lad was about twelve years old. His 
hair was coarse and matted with filth. His 
clothes were dirty. 

Flying up the steps and crouching at the 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN ? 129 



lady's feet, he again inquired, Does Jesus 
Christ live here ? 

What do you Avant of Jesus Christ ? " she 
asked. 

I want to see Him. I want to confess to 
Him," was the reply. 

"Why, what have you been doing that you 
want to confess ? " 

With great earnestness the boy said, " Does 
He live here ? I Avant to know that. Doing ? 
Why, I tell lies. I steal. I do everything bad. 
I am afraid of going to hell, and I Avant to see 
Jesus. I heard one of the teachers say He can 
save from hell. Does He live here ? Oh, tell 
me where I can find Jesus Christ I " 

" But Jesus Christ Avill not save people aa^io 
do wickedly," said the lady. 

" I want to stop doiug Avickedly, but I can- 
not stop," said the boy. " I don't knoAv how to 
stop. The evil thoughts are in me, and the bad 
deeds come of evil thoughts. What can I do ? " 

He was told he could do nothiiiq' but q-o to 
Christ, but that he could not see Christ as he 
CAudently expected to see Him. He AA'as no 
longer on the earth in bodily form. As he 



130 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



heard this he gave a quick, sharp cry of despair. 
But he brightened up when the good mission- 
ary lady told him she was a follower of Jesus, 
and that she luid come to India on purpose to 
tell people how to be saved. 

"Tell me, oh, tell me about Him!" was his 
eager cry. " Only ask your Master, the Lord 
Jesus, to save me, and I will be your servant, 
your slave, for life. Do not be angry. Do not 
send me away. I want to be saved, saved from 
hell." 

We may be sure the simple story of the cross 
was soon told this poor Hindoo lad, and he was 
easily led to trust with all his heart in Him 
wlio came hither to save lost sinners. 

The Christian rests his hope of forgiveness 
and redemption from his sins, entirely, not upon 
any meritorious conduct of his own, but upon 
the sacrifice of Jesus, which he regards as a 
propitiation not for his sins only, but for the 
sins of the whole world. 

Herodotus tells us that when the victorious 
Cyrus was pushing his conquests towards the 
east, the various princes of the country resisted 
him, and that among them was a noble young 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 131 



prince by the name of Tigranes, who gave him 
more trouble than any .of the rest. But at last 
Tigranes was overcome ; and in the evening of 
the day of the battle Cyrus, seated upon a 
throne in a large pavilion, received the captives, 
and looked upon the trophies of his victory as 
they passed before him. At last came the royal 
family of Tigranes, consisting of himself and 
wife and his father and mother. There they 
stood; and the royal conqueror on the throne 
looked at them, and asked Tigranes with what 
he would redeem his father and mother. He 
offered for them all his remaining treasure, and 
they were ordered to stand aside. Then there 
came -another question : " Tigranes, with what 
wilt thou redeem thy wife ? " A look of horror, 
says Herodotus, passed over his manly face as 
he thought that all was gone, and nothing had 
been preserved with which to redeem the wife 
of his love. He knew that according to Orien- 
tal custom she was doomed; and so absorbed 
was he in the misery of the moment, that the 
question was thrice repeated before he w^as 
aroused. At last, liftino- his head, he said , " O 
Cyrus, I will redeem her ; I will die for her, if 



132 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



you will restore her to liberty." Such an answer 
won the respect of Cyrus, and he gave orders 
for their immediate release. In the evening 
of that day, as they were conversing to- 
gether on its eventful scenes, Tigranes turned 
to his wife and asked her if she was not struck 
with the noble appearance of Cyrus. A sec- 
ond time was the question asked before she 
seemed to notice it ; and then she answered, 
" No ; I was not looking at Cyrus." At whom, 
then," said the surprised Tigranes, " were you 
looking ? " That question filled her heart, and 
with eyes streaming with tears she answered, 
" I was looking at the man who offered to 
redeem me with his life." What to her heart 
was the splendor of Cyrus and the magnificence 
of the circumstances in the midst of which she 
stood? Her husband's love, stronger than 
death, she saw as vastly more glorious than all 
the pomp and array of armies or thrones. 

And so, my Christian brother, if at last 5'OU 
are so unspeakably happy as to kneel before 
Him that sitteth on the throne, and cast your 
crown at His feet, you will sa}^ to the angel 
that .kneels by your side, That is He Avho 



AVHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 133 



redeemed me : not one who in a moment of 
generosity only was willing to redeem me ; but 
when I was in sin and misery He came down 
and took upon Himself my nature, and for tln^ee 
and thirty years He tasted my grief and de- 
spised the shame and endured the cross and 
bled upon it for me." 

3. The Christian is one Avho accepts Christ's 
law of life, wliich is self-sacrifice for others. 
And here, again, how wide is the difference be- 
tween the Christian standard and that of the 
world ! 

The world's pro\'erb is. Every man for him- 
self ; " and it only takes the next legitimate 
step when it adds, and the devil for us 
all.'' It is Christianity which says. Bear ye 
one another's burdens, and so fulfil the laAv of 
Christ." How blind are those socialistic lead- 
ers who seek to lift up the poor and helpless 
by turning away from Christianity to athe- 
ism ! Atheism lias nothing to offer the poor 
man but the cruel law of the survival of the fit- 
test. Herbert Spencer, in his Social Statics," 
plainly says, " The poverty of the incapable, 
and the distress which comes upon the impru- 



134 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



dent, and the starvation of the idle, and the 
sliouldering aside of the weak by the strong, 
which leaves so many in the shallows and mis- 
eries, is the decree of a large, far-reaching 
benevolence." How is that for cold-blooded 
theory ? All atheism is a heartless negation 
of that faith in a loving God and the brother- 
hood of humanity which is the poor man's 
strongest plea in the court of civilization. 

And yet it may be that the lack of the mani- 
festation of this essential characteristic of 
Christian character among many of the pro- 
fessed followers of Jesus often helps to turn 
the discouraged soul towards a heartless specu- 
lation. The prevailing sin of the day is self- 
indulgence. It is a canker that eats the life- 
blood out of many a Christian life. The treas- 
ury of Christ is often robbed in order to devote 
the gold belonging to it to some idol of fasliion 
or pleasure. It is to most people, perliaps, 
harder to give up ease than money. Personal 
exertion to save sinners, or to do the disagree- 
able duty and to keep at it with cheerful face 
and heart, is one of the severest tests of Chris- 
tian self-sacrifice. Blessed is the man or woman 



^HAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAX ? 135 



who out of an honest, grateful heart can sav. 

It is my meat and drink to do my ^Master's 
wilh and to iinisli the work that He gaA'e me to 
do." 

Dr. Cnyler calls it "the grace that pinches.*' 
The daily battle of Christian principle is Avith 
that artful, subtle, greedy sinner, self : and the 
highest victor^' of our relio'ion is to follow 
Jesus over the rugged path of self-denial. The 
true disciples of Christianity sing. — 

" Xot to ourselves alone. 

Xot to the flesh, we'll liye; 
Xot to the world shall we 
Our strength and being give! 

Xo longer be otu' life 

A selfish thing, or vain: 
For tis. even here, to live be Christ. 

For Its to die is gain," 

-i. The Christian accepts Christ's love for 
the soul as its chief inspiration. 

There is no inspiration so high as that which 
the knowledge of loA^e creates. A little cltild 
will work wonders under the approving eye of 
fatlter or mother, whose love is the inspiration 
of his life. How soldiers liave fouglit on bloody 



136 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



fields to give gladness to the heart of a beloved 
captain ! You have all read of the old High- 
land chieftain, who fell on the battle-field, 
pierced by a dozen balls. His clan, thinking 
he was slain, began to waver. Raising himself 
upon his elbow as he lay upon the brow of 
the hill, he called, " My children, I am not 
dead ; I am looking upon you." That cry 
turned defeat into victory. So the Christian's 
highest, holiest inspiration springs from the 
knowledge of Christ's deathless love for him. 
Nothing can break down his courage while the 
consciousness of that love buoys his heart. 

One of the finest pictures in the Old Testa- 
ment, which is a great gallery of striking 
scenes, is the story told of David when he was 
in the cave of Adullam, which you may find in 
the twenty-third chapter of Second Samuel. The 
Philistines were encamped at Rephaim, and 
at the end of the plain. David had had noth- 
ing to drink for twenty-four hours ; and as he 
lay panting in the cave, with his men of arms 
about him, he said, Oh, tliat one would give 
me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, 
which is by the gate." It was an ejaculation 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAX ? 137 



which fierce tliirst wrung from liim. Tliere 
were three brave men who at once determined 
to gratify liis wish, and tliey went over tlie 
plain, where tlie arrows were raining down upon 
tliem : btit tlironodi tlie midst of the httrtlino- 
arrows and flying javelins they went to the well 
of Bethlehem and o-ot the water, and brouo-ht a 
gotirdful of it to the king to slake his thirst. 
There is nothing grander in the history of man 
than David's condnct then. He would not 
drink of it. suffering thotigh he was. but poured 
it otit as a libation to the Lord : and why ? 
My God forbid, said David, that I shotild drink 
the blood of these men that have put their lives 
in jeopardy for with the jeopardy of their lives 
they brought it. So the Christian with heart 
burning with gratittide exclaims in the midst of 
life's work. Every hour of this life of mine 
was purchased at the price of His blood who 
loved me and gave Himself for me I Shall I 
drink up in my own selfishness those hours pur- 
chased for me ? Xo. indeed ; God forbid ! But 
I will pour them out as a libation before the 
Lord in any work, however severe, to which 
His A'oice may call." 



138 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



5. The Christian accepts loyalty to Christ as 
the supreme duty, and in its exercise finds liis 
supreme joy. He only is Master. 

One of the noblest characteristics of manhood 
is the loyalty of which it is capable to a great 
soul. Horace Scudder has recently told an in- 
teresting incident in the life of Washington. 
It was at a time when he was generally very 
popular. His men worshipped him ; the officers 
nearest to him, and especially those who formed 
a part of his military family, were warmly at- 
tached to him ; but in Congress there were men 
wdio violently opposed him, and there were cer- 
tain generals who not only envied him, but were 
read}^ to seize any opportunity which might offer 
to belittle him, and to put one of tlieir own 
number in his place. The chief men who were 
engaged in tliis business were Generals Con- 
way, Mifflin, and Gates ; and fi-om the promi- 
nent position taken in the affair by the first- 
named officer, the intrigue against Washington 
goes by the name of the Conway Cabal. After 
it had failed of its purpose by various rounda- 
bout methods, it looked about in Congress, and 
counted the disaffected, to get a majority vote 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHillSTIAN ? 139 



in favor of a motion to arrest the commander- 
in-chief. So, at least, the story rnns, which 
from its nature ^Yo^kl not be found in any 
record, but was whispered from one man to 
another. The day came wlien the motion was 
to be tried ; the conspiracy leaked out. and 
AVashington's friends bestirred themselves. 
They needed one more vote. They sent post- 
haste for one of their number, Governor ]\Iorris, 
who was absent in camp ; but they feared they 
could not cret him in time. In their extremitv 
they went to William Duer, a member from 
New York, who Avas dangerously ill. Duer 
sent for his doctor. 

" Doctor," he asked, can I be carried to 
Congress ? " 

Yes ; but at the risk of your life,"' replied 
the physician. 

" Do you mean that I should expire before 
reaching the place?"' earnestly inquired the 
patient. 

" No," came the answer : but I would not 
answer for your leaAung it alive." 

" Very well, sir. You have done your duty, 
and I will do mine ! " exclaimed Duer. ^- Pre- 



140 THE HONEYCOl^IBS OF LIFE 



pare a litter for me ; if you will not, somebody 
else will, but I prefer your aid." 

The demand was in earnest, and Duer had 
already started when it was announced that 
Morris had returned, and that he would not 
be needed. Morris had come direct from the 
camp, with the latest news of what was going 
on there. His vote Avould make it impossible 
for the enemies of Washington to carry their 
point ; their opportunity was lost, and they 
never recovered it. 

So the Christian is one who is willing to risk 
life itself in loyalty to his Divine Master. The 
brightest pictures that illuminate the last two 
thousand years of human history are those 
scenes of devotion and loyalty to Jesus which, 
blessed be God, are not dying, but being re-en- 
acted in every land where Jesus is known. 

Wherever a great cause staggers under the 
opposition of evil, and there is a forlorn hope to 
be led, there is some hero — a hero like George 
C. Haddock of Sioux City, Iowa — ready to 
stand in the breach for Christ's sake, who 
counts not even his life dear unto himself, but 
is willing to let his blood run in the gutter in 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN ? 141 



order that poor drunkards for whom Christ died 
may lie in that gutter no more. In such loyalty 
the Christian finds supreme joy. There is no 
joy on earth like that afforded by doing a part 
of Christ's work in saving men. 

The Arctic traveller, George Kennan, paints 
a most brilliant description of a scene far away 
in Kamchatka, where a portion of their com- 
pany had been lost in the snow for several 
weeks. He and a few others set out on a 
journey of two hundred miles, in the dead of 
winter, to find them. It was a terrible journey. 
Tlie very feet of the dogs left blood-prints on 
the snow. They pushed on for two hundred 
miles toward the Anadyr River, by the light of 
Aurora Borealis, hoping to find them. Finally, 
he tells us, in the awful stillness of the Arctic 
midnight, when the thermometer was forty de- 
grees below zero, when they were endeavoring 
to get a little warmth around the fire of a few 
roots gathered by the way, he heard a sharp 
halloo across the waste of snow. He quitted 
the fire and hastened in the direction of the 
sound, and he found one of the guides standing 
by a little iron pipe thrust out of the snow-bank. 



142 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



He 1 lurried up to it, leaned over it, and shouted 
down the pipe, tlien listened. Up from beneath 
the snow came his own familiar language, 
''Who's there?" ''Then," adds Kennan, "they 
told us how to find the way into the temporary 
place in which they were hidden under the 
snow, and we entered the cavern ; and when I 
saw my companions so nearly perished, and felt 
that I had saved them, I sank down, overcome 
with joy, utterly unable to speak or move." So 
many a man or woman doing some of Christ's 
work, and finally conscious of rescuing some 
starving, lost soul, has known what it is to be 
unutterably full of joy. God grant you, my 
brethren, that supreme joy in which you seem 
to take part with the angels in heaven, Avho 
rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. 

Only one thought more, briefly put, and I am 
done. 

The Christian is one who looks forward to 
eternal life, whose greatest bliss shall rest in his 
being like Christ, and with Him forever. Not 
a gi'cat deal is told us about that life. Our 
language is altogether too 'poov to paint the 
blessed picture. 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 143 



Mrs. Willard, in " Life in Alaska," tells of a 
little Hydah girl wlio had a passionate love for 
the beautiful scenery surrounding her home. 
She would sit in perfect rapture looking at the 
mountains, sky, and water. At one point of 
particular beauty she exclaimed, with her hands 
on her breast and her eyes aglow, "Oh, my 
heart gave a great shake ! " One of her teachers 
asked her to sketch the scene at sunset. She 
sat with an expression of countenance worthy 
of a great artist. Gazing over the shining deep 
with softened eyes, she simply said, " I can't 
draw glory." So even the inspired penman has 
not been able to draw Glory. We rest in per- 
fect confidence in the blessed promise that 
though it doth not appear what we shall be, yet 
when He aj^pears, who is our Lord and our 
Life, we shall be like Him. 

"Earth sings her parables of loss and gain 

In boldest speech ; 
Yet heights sublime which spirits shall attain 

She cannot reach. 
Aerial whispers float o'er land and sea; 
' It doth not yet appear what we shall be. ' 

Her royal purples and her crowns of gold, 
Her white attire, 



144 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



The sceptred lilies which her summers hold, 

With flames afire — 
All fail to show the glory we shall see ; 
' It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' 

Who from unsightly bulb or slender root 

Could guess aright 
The glory of the flower, the fern, the fruit, 

In summer's height ? 
Through tremulous shadows voices call to me, 
' It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' 

Triumphant guesses from the seer and sage 
Through shadows dart, 

And tender meanings on the poet's page 
Console the heart. 

Oh, songs prophetic ! though so sweet are ye, 

' It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' " 



VIII 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 

" Now Peter and Jolm went up together into the temple at 
the hour of prayer," etc. — Acts iii. 1-11. 

THIS temple was one of the most magnificent 
ever built by man. We are told that 
more than ten thousand skilled workmen were 
employed upon it. It w^as built of beautiful 
white stones, each one of which was forty feet 
long, fourteen feet high, and twenty feet broad. 
One of its cloisters was formed of one hundred 
and sixty -two pillars, fifty feet in height, and 
each so large as to require three men with 
arms extended to reach around it. This clois- 
ter alone was one hundred feet longer than the 
Cologne Cathedral. Running around the whole 
structure, above the gates, was a golden vine 
with pendent branches, most delicately formed 
of the same precious metal, so that all who 

145 



146 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



beheld it were filled with amazement. There 
were nine colossal gates, covered with silver 
and gold, which gave entrance into that splen- 
did temple ; but in magnitude and splendor the 
one called the Beautiful " far surpassed all 
the rest. It was twentj-four feet broad and 
forty-five feet in height. It was decorated with 
lilies, formed of Corinthian brass. It opened 
toward the sunrise, and must have been daz- 
zling indeed with the morning's j-adiant beams 
upon it. 

Here it was that the crippled man wdio had 
been helpless from his infancy was laid to re- 
ceive the alms of the people as they went in to 
worship. This whole picture we are to study 
is dramatic to the last degree. Peter and John 
themselves are a most interesting pair. There 
is no more fascinating man in the Bible portrait 
gallery than Peter. You can pick flaws in him 
by the hour, but he never bores you. Bold, im- 
petuous, daring, egotistical, but always interest- 
ing, Peter reminds me of some great mountain 
that lifts itself into the clouds, out from the 
lower range of hills ; a mountain formed by 
some tremendous volcanic upheaval that has 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 



147 



left the rude and ragged scars of its creation 
upon its face. It is too great, too awful, too 
sublime, to be merely pretty. It is scarred by 
deep gorges and marred by dark lava ledges ; 
but the everlasting snows crown its dome, about 
its feet the dark forests grow, and from its 
heart pour cool, refreshing streams that bless 
the foothills and the valleys far away. And 
when the evening sun pours its wealth of color 
upon the ugly old mountain summit, it is glori- 
fied with a grandeur that far surpasses anything 
that can be called beautiful. So Peter is a man 
scarred by passion and seamed by sin, but there 
is somethino- heroic and massive about his o-reat 
soul ; and when at last the full glory of God's 
transforming love has flooded his life, he glows 
with a radiance that is divine. Then here is 
John, the sensitive disciple. Not always a saint 
by any means — anything but that at the be- 
ginning. For he is the man who wished to 
call down fire from heaven to burn up the town, 
root and branch, that did not receive his Master. 
But, like David, John had a teachable soul, easily 
susceptible to higher influences. One of those 
refined natures which, in their essential ele- 



148 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



ments, are as delicate as the spirit of a sensitive 
woman, whose heart is so exactly tuned as to 
be affected by the slightest breath of influence. 
John's soul, wrought upon b}^ the Christ, is so 
dominated by the heavenly Spirit that he comes 
to be pre-eminently the disciple whom Jesus 
loves ; and, of all places on earth, he was most 
happy when he could lay his head on Jesus' 
breast. These are the men who, taken to- 
gether, represent the genius of Christianity — 
the daring of faith, and the tenderness of love 
— who stand before the poor crippled beggar 
at the Beautiful Gate. 

We have here the proper spirit of Chris- 
tianity. We are to care not only for the people 
inside the gate, but we are to seek out and care 
for the crippled lives which are without. If 
modern Christianity means anything, it means 
that Jesus Christ is represented in those who 
call themselves by His name, and who go about 
doing good, like Peter and John, for His sake, 
and through the sympathy and power which He 
gives. Character means service, and the key- 
note of a Christian life is fruit. The true aim 
of a Christian life is not peace, though it shall 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 149 



have peace : it is not joy, though Christ de- 
clared His joy should not be taken away from 
us ; it is not rest, or happiness, though His 
promise to the heavy-laden and careworn is that 
by coming to Him they shall find rest unto 
their souls : but the great end of the Christian 
life is fruit-bearing. Usefulness is commensu- 
rate with the Christian life. A fruitless Chris- 
tian is a useless Christian. Christ compares 
His relation to us with the relation of a vine 
to its branches. The vine is the strong and 
upholding centre, gathering up nourishment, 
and sending its life pulsating through all the 
branches ; but all the clusters of grapes hang 
on the branches. It is just as true to say that 
the vine can do nothing without the branches 
as it is to say that the branches can do nothing 
without the vine. Our Lord Jesus Christ in- 
tends to brinof about the reio-n of rio-hteousness 
in this world through His disciples. Cornelius 
and his family were brought into happy Chris- 
tian experience by the power and grace of 
Christ : but not until Peter had preached to 
them the word. The treasurer of Queen Can- 
dace was baptized with great joy into the faith 



150 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



of the Gospel ; but not until Philip, sitting hj 
his side in the chariot, had pointed him from 
prophecy to fulfilment in the cross and the sun- 
dered tomb. Saul was changed to Paul largely 
by that wonderful vision on the way to Damas- 
cus ; but his eyes were not opened until faitliful 
Ananias bent over him in prayerful benedic- 
tion. Christ reaches men through men; and He 
is looking after the sorrowing, the sick, tlie 
afflicted, and oppressed now, as in the days 
when He was on earth, and in the later days of 
the apostles, through men and women who, 
having caught His spirit and owned Him Lord, 
go forth to take His place, in the dusty high- 
ways of common life. William Carey, going 
to India, is there the representative of Jesus. 
Dorothy Dix, going from land to land and from 
dungeon to dungeon, looking after Christ's neg- 
lected poor among the insane, changing the 
attitude of the whole race toward this afflicted 
class, was simply representing Jesus Christ. 
John Howard, going down into the prisons of 
the Old World, and hunting out the forgotten 
and neglected multitudes hidden away from the 
world's view, and calling the attention of man- 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 



151 



kind to horrors and cruelties of Avhich the great 
mass of the people had never dreamed, was 
only exemplifying the declaration of Jesus that 
His disciples were to be the light of the world. 
Florence Nio-htino-ale, in the Crimea, whether 
cutting the axe through the red tape that 
locked storehouse doors against sick and starv- 
ing soldiers, or bowing and smiling down the 
long lines of wounded and dying in the hos- 
pital, \^ here many a homesick soldier would 
turn and kiss her shadow where it fell on his 
pillow, was simply living out in real life the 
sisterhood of Jesus Christ. Comino- closer into 
our own day, Loring Brace, with his Children's 
Aid Society, and the multitudes of tender and 
sympathetic souls who have- followed in his 
footsteps ; and Henry Bergh, with his self- 
denying life given over to the protection of 
dumb beasts from cruel hands ; and the hospi- 
tals and almshouses and orphan asylums and 
houses of refuge and day nurseries, which are 
coming ever more rapidly to be points of heav- 
enly light in the midst of our large cities' and 
towns, bear their own sweet testimony that the 
pitiful, tender Christ has not left the world, but 
still walks amono' men ever to do o-ood. 



152 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

There is something most fascinating to me 
in the daring faith of these disciples as they 
turn to give their great help to this poor 
cripple. You see in this very spirit the 
power which made it possible for Christianity 
to overrun the then known Avorld, and conquer 
the Roman Empire, in spite of all opposition, 
within the first two or three centuries. Broth- 
ers and sisters, that is the spirit which above 
everything else we need ! 

A distinguished professor in one of our col- 
leges, writing in a popular review not long ago, 
takes up the sad refrain which is altogether too 
common in our time — " it is a tough old 
world ; " and the substance of his conclusion 
is, that because the world is so "tough," we had 
better leave it alone and spare our foolish pains. 
Thank God, that is not the Christian way of 
regarding great tasks. Somebody has said that 
all men are to be divided into two classes — 
those to Avhom nothing is possible, and those to 
whom all things are possible. The Christian 
belongs to the latter class ; for his Bible tells 
him that "all things are possible to him that 
belie veth." A leadinsf man in Chicao-o said, the 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 



153 



other day, " I have lived in Chicago now 
thirty odd years, and in that time it has been 
the crazy men \yho have become rich ; the men 
who thought it was impossible that this swamp 
should be couA^erted into a metropolis are poor 
to-day." It is so in our Avork for God. The 
men AAdio bring things to pass in pulling down 
the strona-holds of sin and in winnino- souls to 
Christ, are the men who belie A^e that the might- 
iest forces in the AA'orld are the forces that work 
for rio'liteousness. la-norant men talk abotit 
the power of a cyclone, but the scientist knows 
that the power which builds up a forest is a 
thousand times miglitier than that AA'hich up- 
roots a tree ; that that AA'hich tosses a house in 
the air is but a feeble thing compared with the 
splendid force which swings a million stars 
through the depths of space and ncA'er loses 
track of one of them for a moment. So men 
who see only sensual and earthly things, and 
know nothing of the great spiritual Heart of 
the universe, tell us that it is impossible that 
we should ever overthrow the licjuor traffic, or 
stamp out the lottery or the gambling hells, 
and make proverbs like this : " EA^ery man has 



154 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



his price ; " which is only a coarse way of say 
ing that the mean and vulgar passions are the 
most powerful forces that touch man's nature. 
But the Christian knows that this is not true. 
He knows that faith and hope and love are 
more than a match for greed and selfishness and 
lust. And he stands before the poor, crippled 
souls, marred and scarred and dwarfed b}^ sin's 
vicious and ugly hand, and, like Peter, does 
not fear to attempt their transformation in the 
name of Jesus Christ. For of all the passions 
of the human soul, love — not selfishness nor 
hate — is supreme. Scarcely a day passes in 
which the newspapers do not record some 
heroic death for the sake of love. Now it is a 
father snatching his boy from the flames ; again, 
a mother dying upon a track where her babe 
had wandered ; but always and everywhere love 
is the strongest and the sweetest thing in the 
world. The people who are making their poor 
sneer of contempt at the daring claim that tlie 
Cross of Jesus Christ can conquer this " tough 
old world," do not know the splendid force 
which animates millions of men and women 
who are ready to live and die in loving devotion 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 155 



to the Christ who died to redeem them. May 
God baptize this church with this daring spirit, 
and make us in these streets of Brool^lyn like 
Peter and John were at the gate of the okl 
temple — the channels through which Christ's 
healing power may come I 

The most splendid thing about this scene at 
the Beautiful Gate was not the beauty of the 
temple or of the gate itself, nor even the faith 
and courage of Peter and John, but the glorious 
manifestation of the power of Jesus Christ in 
the cure of the sick man, who, healed in body 
and soul, went leaping into the temple, praising 
God. It may be that I am preaching to some 
who are conscious as I speak that this crippled 
man at the temple gate is a type of their spirit- 
ual condition ; it may be that in your inmost 
soul you are conscious that at the beautiful gate 
of the Gospel your nature, crippled by sin and 
wicked habits, lies impotent and helpless. Ah, 
if such is the case, I thank God that you are 
conscious of it ; and if there be an}- here who 
are sick with sin, but who, hiding under pride 
and indifference, are stifling conscience and 
refusing to hear its reproofs, I pray God that 



156 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



the Holy Spirit may make you conscious of 
your great need. Tliere is nothing more piti- 
able than to see a man who is spiritually bank- 
rupt, and wliose better nature is swamped in 
sin, who yet fondly imagines that he does not 
need the forgiving mercy of Jesus Christ. 
Many there are, like the church of the Laodi- 
ceans described in Revelation, of whom God 
looking down on them says, " Because thou 
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and 
have need of nothing; and knowest not that 
thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
blind, and naked : I counsel thee to buy of me 
gold tried in the fire, that thou may est be rich ; 
and Avhite raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, 
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not 
appear ; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, 
that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I 
rebuke and chasten : be zealous therefore, and 
repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock : 
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I 
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and 
he with me. . . . He that hath an ear, let him 
hear." How the cured cripple must have 
looked back many a time to that one great hour 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 157 



of opportunity ^^'hicll brought liini healing and 
salvation. If you will open your hearts to hear 
the word, this may be your hour of transforma- 
tion and blessing. Tiie Rev. Robert Mclntyre, 
of Denver, one of the most brilliant men in the 
pulpit to-day, recently told the story of his con- 
version. He was born in Scotland, and his 
parents brought liim to this country when he 
was small. His fatlier died early, and he 
learned the trade of a bricklayer, and became 
the bread-earner for his mother and brothers. 
He drifted into infidelity, and became a leader 
of infidel clubs. In St. Louis, Avhere his home 
was, a friend prevailed on him one Mouday 
evenino" to attend a cluircli service. Tlie min- 
ister had scarcely begun to preach when. Dr. 
Mclntyre says, " For the first time in my life I 
heard a man preacliing to me, and in ten min- 
utes I was trembling from head to foot. I 
know the Holy Spirit had hold of me. I was 
introduced to the preacher, and I said I would 
like to have a tallv with him, for his sermon had 
greatly moved me. He told me where he lived, 
and asked me to call the next day. I went, and 
we talked together for two hours. I advanced 



158 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



my inficlel arguments, and he sought to reply ; 
but I thought I had got the better of liim, and 
when I rose to go I tokl him I was worse than 
when I came. He said, ' Do you mean to tell 
me I have failed to do you good ? ' and I said, 
' That is exactly what you have done, sir.' 
He said, ' Do you know, sir, that I expected to 
fail?' Then he said, 'But I have a friend 
who never fails in these matters.' I did not 
understand Gospel phraseology, and so I inno- 
cently asked, ' Where is he? ' He said, ' Right 
here,' and then he said, ' Let us kneel down 
right here and pray ; ' and before I really knew 
what I was doing, I was on my knees. In a 
moment I saw I had lost the battle. When he 
talked to me I could answer him, but when he 
prayed I could not say a word ; and, oh, how 
he prayed ! It reminded me of my brother's 
prayer for me years before. But I would not 
yield. On leaving him I said, ' I wish you 
would preach at the church to-morrow night.' 
He said, ' I will if you will be there,' and I 
promised to go. 

" Every word he said in that second sermon 
seemed like a barbed arrow in my heart. After 



AT THE GATE BEAUTEFUL 



159 



the sermon the usual invitation was given for 
seekers while a hymn was sung. I clutched 
the bench in front of me to keep from shaking. 
I could scarcely breathe. I said to myself, If I 
ever get into the street again, I will forever 
keep away from this church. My friend Grant 
was behind me, and touching me on the shoul- 
der he said, ' Go to the altar.' But the devil 
was rampant in me, and my teeth Avere set, and 
I would not move. The preacher said, 'Sing 
another verse ; there may be some here in the 
valley of decision.' Though trembling like 
an aspen leaf, I refused to move. He then 
lifted up his hands and said, ^ We have done 
all Ave can,' and began to pronounce the bene- 
diction. 

" Something within me said, ' If that benedic- 
tion is pronounced, and you go out unsaved, it 
is the day of judgment for you.' While the 
benediction was on his lips I jumped out into 
the aisle and ran as if the devil was after me, 
and fell at the altar, for I had not strength 
enough to kneel. For a few minutes I did not 
know anything. When I came to myself they 
were singing, 'Jesus loves you just now;' and 



160 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



it seemed to me it was the sweetest singing I 
ever heard. It seemed that a great avalanche 
of rock had slipped down on me, and I felt 
bound to the floor. I could hardly breathe, but 
was trying to pray. It seemed that I would 
die if I could not get relief. An old gray-haired 
mother in Israel came and knelt beside me and 
heard me cry, ' O God, help me I ' and she said, 
' Do not pray that way ; God will not hear that 
prayer. Say this : O God, for Jesus' sake have 
mercy on me.' I took the very words from her 
lips, and repeated them ; and then the great 
mountain lifted from me, and my lieart burst 
into raptures of joy. Tears streamed down my 
face, and all my darkness went away. Such a 
sense of victory filled the room that all knew 
that the work was done." 

Are there not some who will catch inspiration 
from the story of this glorious conversion, and 
yield jouv own hearts to Christ here and now ? 
Are you not ready to pray with Lucy Larcom, — 

" Lord, open the door, for I falter, 
I faint in this stifled air; 
In dust and straitness I lose my breath; 
This life of self is a living death. 



AT THE GATE BEAUTIFUL 



Let me into Thy pastures broad and fair, 
To tlie sun and the wind from Thy mountains free 
Lord, open the door to me! 

There is holier Ufe, and truer, 
Than ever my heart has found ; . 
There is nobler work than is wrought within 
These walls so charred by the fires of sin, 
Where I toil like a captive blind and bound — 
An open door to a freer task 
In Thy nearer smile, I ask. 



Yet crippled and dumb, behold me wait, 
Dear Lord, at the Beautiful Gate! 

I wait for Thy hand of healing — 

For vigor and hope in Thee. 

Open wide the door — let me feel the sun — 

Let me touch Thy robe — I shall rise and run 

Through Thy happy universe, safe and free, 

Where in and out Thy beloved go, 

Nor want nor wandering know. 

Thyself art the Door most holy ! 
By Thee let me enter in ! 

I press toward Thee with my failing strength 
Unfold Thy love in its breadth and length ! 
True life from Thine let my spirit win. 



Life ! Life ! I may enter, through Thee, the Door, 
Saved, sheltered f orevermore ! " 



IX 



THE NOBILITY OF SEEVICE 



" For David, after he had served his own generation by the 
will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fatiiers." — 
Acts xiii. 36. 



" To feed on flesh and eat the oaten cake. 

Made by the cunning of the housewife's hands, 
Stopping from toil to soothe the pains which ache 

With cooling lotions and repressive hands. 
And scarce a moment rid of care to find 
Proper refreshment for the starving mind — 



Or is't to feast with Epicurean skill 

On potted meats, drinking huge draughts of wine; 
Giving to greed the loosest rein, until, 

Filled with disease and racked by pain, svipine 
The body lies, waiting untimely death. 
The passing out of the last passing breath — 



Or is't to robe in butterfly array 
This mortal dust, and make a spectacle 

Of pride for envy ; frittering away 
Valuable time in what must ever dull 
162 




HAT is it to live? 



Is this to live ? 



Is this to live ? 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



163 



Tlie sonl's keen vision of the good and pnre, 
Which lasts fore'er, as grace and truth endure — 
Is this to live ? 

Or is't to drink at faith's unfailing stream ; 

Obey the Lord's and duty's high command ; 
Converse in heaven, and on its glories dream ; 

And upward lift forever prayerful hands, 
Waiting with service for the exit here, 
The death-like entrance upon glory there ? 
'Tis this to live." 

Our human life has to do with two worlds. 
Dr. Kelley tells the story of a little black beetle 
that swims on the summer brook, well known 
to all of us who have lived in the country. 
Tliis creature loves to hold insect conven- 
tions in quiet nooks or eddies, and for hours 
glide and whirl about in all manner of fantastic 
gyrations. One curious thing about this insect 
is, that it has two pairs of eyes ; and, as it floats 
along, one pair of eyes is below the water, and 
the other is above it. The one pair to review 
things below, and the other above, the surface. 
The one looks out for food, and the other, not 
only for enemies, but enjoyment as well. These 
two pairs of eyes together fit the insect for its 
life on the dividing line between the air and the 
water. So God has designed us to live in this 



164 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

world, on tlie border line between the ma- 
terial and the spiritnal. We cannot be alto- 
gether in either, just now, without damage to 
some part of our nature. We, too, are endowed 
with two sets of eyes — bodily and spiritual. 
We are not only to use the eyes that search out 
food for the bod}', but aboye all we are to de- 
velop strength and keenness of perception in 
those eyes that look into the realm from whence 
come not only our chief enemies, but also our 
truest enjoyment and noblest friends. 

We haye as our text this morning an epitaph 
in memory of Day id, written by the Apostle 
Paul. That which first impresses itself upon 
us is that Paul giyes as the chief characteristic 
of Dayid's life the fact of seryice. 

I. 

And it is true that the supreme purpose of 
life is to serye. Jesus made that teaching cer- 
tain. " Tlie Son of man came not to be minis- 
tered unto, but to minister." Wheneyer a life 
is planned upon any other basis than to make it 
a helper in the world's work, it is planned not 
only to be useless, but to be dangerous. It is a 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



165 



sad tiling to see so many men and women of in- 
telligence and capability who deliberately plan 
to live lives of simply selfish gratificatioiT. Such 
people are only dead branches on the fruitful 
tree of civilization. 

In making our human lives hinge on service, 
God is true to the nature of things. Only by 
service can we find the true joy and enthusiasm 
of living. The story is told of a young German 
nobleman, heir to large estates, who after his 
college course travelled far and wide ; saw, 
heard, and enjoyed everything, and tlien re- 
turned to his native place. One day, some time 
after his return, he declared to his friend, a 
manufacturer, that he was tired of life, and was 
going to commit suicide that very night. His 
friend, who was a man of sense and discretion, 
requested him, as a last favor, to come and see 
his factory before committing the fatal act. It 
was the busy season, and the workmen were 
working till twelve at night. The young no- 
bleman came, and his friend had ordered things 
so that, immediately on his entrance, certain 
workmen seized him, clapped a blouse on him, 
and compelled him to work like the others. 



166 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



The nobleman, on finding remonstrance vain, 
did as he was bid; and, after toiling nntil he 
was coyered with perspiration, the lunch was or- 
dered. This consisted of black ])read, sausage, 
and root beer. The nobleman ate this plain 
food with an appetite such as the finest viands 
had never caused him to feel. One workman 
came up to him and said, ''Friend, you see 
before you the father of five children. I lost 
three of them at one sweep. I was almost 
crazy, and wished to die. But I had to work 
for the other two, who are dearer to me than 
life itself. Now working for them has helped 
me to forget my lost, and made life sweet to 
me again. I have overcome my grief for the 
others." The nobleman listened, saw, and felt. 
He remembered that he had large estates and 
many tenants, and could do an immense amount 
of good ; so he determined to devote his ener- 
gies to improving his estates and the condition 
of the tenantry upon them ; and, as tlie fairy 
stories say, lived happy CA^er afterward. But 
there is a lesson in the stoi'y — a deep and true 
one, which he who runs may read. 

It is the duty of every one of us to do the 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



167 



best work of which we are capable, and to exeit 
the best possible influence on humanity. A -id 
we serve ourselves best in thus serving others. 
A true life lives in the happiness it creates, and 
derives its joy from the service of God and 
others. Such lives were never in greater de- 
mand than now. Every great cause is echoing 
and re-echoing the poet's call, — 

"Wanted: men, 
Not systems fit and wise, 
'Not faiths with rigid eyes, 
Not wealth in mountain piles, 
Not power with gracious smiles, 
Not even the potent pen ; 

Wanted: men. 

Wanted: Deeds. 
Not words of winning note. 
Not thoughts of life remote. 
Not fond religious airs, 
Not sweetly languid prayers. 
Not love of scented creed ; 

Wanted: deeds. 

Men and deeds — 
Men that can dare and do, • 
Not longings for the new. 
Not prating for the old ; 
Good life and action bold. 
These the occasion needs; 

Men and deeds." 



168 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



The path of service is open to all, nay, we 
stumble on to the path daily without knowing 
it. 

Ivan Tourguenieff, in one of his beautiful 
poems in prose, says, I was walking in the 
street ; a beggar stopped me — a frail old man. 
His inflamed, tearful eyes, blue lips, rougli 
rags, disgusting sores — oh, how horribly pov- 
erty had disfigured the unhappy creature ! He 
stretched out to me his red, swollen, filthy 
hands ; he groaned and whimpered for alms-. I 
felt in all my pockets ; no purse, watch, or hand- 
kerchief did I find ; I had left them all at home. 
The beggar waited, and his outstretched hand 
twitched and trembled. Embarrassed and con- 
fused, I seized his dirty hand and pressed it. 
' Don't be vexed with me, brother ; I have 
nothing with me, brother.' The beggar raised 
his bloodshot eyes to mine ; his blue lips smiled, 
and he returned the pressure of my chilled fin- 
gers. ' Never mind, brother,' stammered he ; 
' thank you for this — this, too, was a gift, 
brother.' I felt that I, too, had received a gift 
from my brother." 

This is a line of service oj)en to us all. 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



169 



However poor we may be in earthly possessions, 
we may at least be ricli in that fulness of. hu- 
manity which recognizes the manhood and wo- 
manhood of every one with whom we come in 
contact. And there is no reason for discourage- 
ment because the service we offer seems small 
and unimportant. Does not the Master declare 
that not even a cup of cold water given in the 
name of a true disciple shall pass unnoticed? 
And there are thousands of people in our towns 
and cities who need just that cup of cold water, 
given in liearty fellowship, to arouse again their 
hope and courage. The poet tells us of a poor 
discouraged man who, — 

"Stood in fierce despair — gaunt, hollow-eyed, 
With murder whispering in his tortured ear. 
No work! his baby's cry broke down his pride, 
His sick wife's pleading brought the horror near. 

They heard his tale, and carelessly they threw 
A golden coin, as if they thought the sting 

That drove his soul crime's hated portal through, 
Would weaken at the money's golden ring. 

His thin face settled in a hateful frown; 

The sneering charity unheeded lay; 
They who had idly crushed his manhood down 

Will wonder at his dark revenge some day. 



170 



Till: HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



A rn;iri vvil.li coni as ra<^<^c,(l as liis own 

llclil out a hand and spok*; brave words of flieor, 

And, lo! the dark, stern lace has ^^erith;r grown, 
And in the hollow eye th(;re shines a tear. 

For^^otten are the hi(h;ous tliought.s tiiat filled 
His soul; the way s(;<;ins bri<fliter than Ixd'ore; 

A newer courage all his life has thrilled, 

And tlirown a gleam of sunshine through lujpe's door. 

He giv(;s the most who bravely lends a hand 
'I'o help his brothel' in the Ikjiu' of need; 

God kee[)S th(; record, — He. can understand, 
And of our slightest service will take heed." 

II. 

W(; liave suf^g-cjsted lier(i, also, ilio j)rop(;r 
sphei-e of ourliriniaji lives. Paul says of David 
that lie "served his own genei'atioii." The ii'i- 
iiinphant helj;)fulness of David's life l;i.y in liis 
pi'oni])tjiess to do eaeh ditty faithfully, \vh(;llier 
it wei'e sniuJl or greJtt. Ih; was jtist as enthu- 
siastic and l>iave a,s a kee|)(;r of sh(M;p a,s Ik; 
was as ii warrior doing battle with giants. 
seized the present duty proni[jtly. He w(;nt out 
to the army of Isra(,'l when they were c(jwed 
;ind aJVaid, a.nd tiying in va.in to devise; some 
means by whieh to slay (iolia^th. The thought 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



171 



struck David in a moment that there was only 
one way to kill that big fellow with his heavy 
armor, and that was to strike him in the one 
spot where he was unprotected. He saw the 
great, broad forehead uncovered. He said to 
himself, " There is my chance to save this 
army." He was an expert with a sling. He 
had practised with it till he could sling a stone 
straight to the mark. He did not stop to hold 
any council of war about it. He seized prompt- 
ly hold of his thouglit, and went to his victory. 

There is a later historical incident illustrating 
youthful promptness and fidelity to the duty at 
hand that I always associate in my mind with 
David's defence of Israel against Goliath. It 
is an incident which occurred in the outbreak of 
the Sepoy mutiny in 1857. Just before the 
awful storm broke, the system of electric tele- 
graphs had been extended over the surface of 
British India. The mutineers rushed to Delhi 
to seize upon the old hereditary seat of the Mo- 
hammedan Empire, and began cutting the throats 
of Europeans. While the rattle of cannon and 
musketry was rolling around the telegraph 
office, a little English boy, moved by the Eng- 



172 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



lish sense of duty, stuck to his post until he 
had telegraphed to the commissioner at Lahore. 
' The message announced that the mutineers had 
arrived at Delhi, and had murdered this civilian 
and that officer, and wound up with these sig- 
nificant but childish words, " We're off ! " The 
boy's courage and sense of duty saved the Pun- 
jab, That little boy at Delhi saved Northern 
India to the British crown. 

That is alwaj^s the key to success — do the 
duty that calls at once. 

Carlyle never uttered a keener truth than 
when he said, "Take an occasion by the foretop ; 
she has no back hair." The cause of righteous- 
ness in the world needs just now a re-enforce- 
ment of such prompt and earnest souls. Brother, 
lend it thine ! As one has well said, God needs 
for to-day " men like Elijah, carrying into the 
very midst of the Baal worship of modern 
society the true God in their own devout lives ; 
men like James the Just, thrusting their defiant 
Christian honesty in the very face of our day's 
falsehood and fraud ; like Daniel and his friends, 
shining with speckless purity amid the beastly 
indulgence and unchastity of the modern cities ; 



THE XOBILITY OF SERVICE 



173 



men daring to say ' no * to their own party when 
wrong: men honorably generous to say "yes" to 
opponents when rigiit ; men bohl enough to 
take the robbed Indian or the maltreated Cliina- 
man by the hand, and in the very humanity of 
living Christianity to say. - 1 am a man and a 
brother ; " men ready to battle, and. if need be, 
die. for their country's unity and honor : and 
yet men with tlie courage of their convictions, 
calm and resolute to face the howlino^ mob or 
the highest bar of their land, and say. - We 
ought to obey God rather than men ; ' men of 
sober mind and Ivcen eye ; men of the clinched 
fist and firm-set jaAv and the iron will ; men who 
stand sqitarely on the broad, breezy foundations 
of strong common sense let deeply down into 
the living rock of eternal trtitli. and so stand- 
ing, will say, ' Xone of these things of public 
clamor, or party selfishness, or mean suspicions, 
move us.' 

Such men will be ready to face the living 
questions that confront us in this hotir. They 
will not shrink in the presence of the liquor 
Cjuestion. tlie tenement-Louse evil, the infernal 
sweat-shop, or tlie wicked threatenings of the 



174 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



gold god. They will dare to believe that Jesus 
Christ has a mission to municipal afid state 
politics ; and will prove themselves the country's 
fresh heroes. 

God grant us more men and women who are 
not afraid to stand alone, or with the few^ ! The 
prophet-hearted and resolute young men and 
women who lead minorities to-day will trium- 
phantly lead the majorities of to-morrow. I 
would that I had the power to arouse some 
young David here and now I Some young man 
yet with the dew of his youth upon him, and 
the holy fires of his fresh enthusiasm all un- 
spent, and who will dare to face with all joy the 
Goliaths of our own time. 

III. 

We have also in this brief epitaph the su- 
preme rule of life. David not only served his 
own generation, but he served according to 
" the will of God." 

Many of you recall the sweet old legend of 
St. Christopher, which is so beautifully perpetu- 
ated in art in the cathedral at Cologne. A 
giant had heard of Christ, and was seeking to 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



175 



work out liis own salvation by good works. He 
lived in a cave near a rapid stream ; and who- 
ever, desired to cross it he took upon his 
shoulders and bore to the opposite shore. Many 
a burden he bore wearily across the river, strug- 
gling manfully with the waves. But fiercer 
than the rushing waters were the billows that 
swept over his own soul, tossing forever with 
the unrest of a burdened spirit. This penance 
gave no relief; the river washed no guilt from 
his heart. The greater the danger in crossing 
the river, the more willing was he to brave the 
perilous waves. Whenever he heard a call, he 
straightway went to aid the traveller, so eager 
was he to do the Avork of penance. But good 
and true and generous as was his work, it did 
not bring him peace. 

One night, being weary, he had fallen asleep 
in his lonely cave. Without, it was dark and 
stormy and cold. The river raged fiercely ; not 
a star lighted the night. Above the roar of 
waters and the hoAvling of the winds he heard 
a cry of distress. It came from the other side 
of the river ; and it was a child's voice. He 
had never heard that voice before, nor one like 



176 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

it. It called piteously, " Take me across the 
river ! " 

For the first time since he had taken up this 
life of toil he felt reluctant to go out into the 
storm and darkness and ford the rushing stream. 
But before his heart hardened the voice came 
again — a pleading voice, soft and flute-like, yet 
entering into the depths of his very soul. Then 
to his spirit came the words : " Take my joke 
upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find 
rest unto your soul." 

These words were strange to this giant her- 
mit. But a new power tugged at his heart ; 
and, leaving his bed on the cold ground, he took 
his long pole and went out into the darkness to 
obey the call. It was only a child ; he felt sure 
of that ; it would be nothing to the burdens lie 
so often bore across the river. So, despite his 
weariness, he went out into the storm. As he 
looked into the wild night, and plunged into the 
dangerous river, he still heard the voice. When 
he had gained the other bank, he found there a 
child of wonderful beauty, holding his hands 
out to him and still calling to him : Come, 
take me on your shoulders." About the head of 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



177, 



this cliild was a halo, like a crown made of stars. 
The giant stood for a moment filled witli won- 
der; then, kneeling at his feet, he found himself 
still too high for the child to climb upon his 
shoulders. So he threw himself prone upon 
the earth before him, begging him to put his 
arms about his neck, and cling fast, while he 
should bear him safely through the foaming 
waters to the other shore. 

The storm had grown more fierce, the night 
more dark, and the dang-er more fiio-htful. Now 
and then the giant lost his foothold, and at 
times his staff would not cling to the rocky bed 
of the river. But the child Avould- whisper, 
" Fear not ; I am with thee," and he took cour- 
age again. Then into his soul came the words, 
" My righteousness." What did it mean ? Tlie 
giant had been trying to establish his own right- 
eousness. Just as he was plunging into a 
deeper flood, and the current was too strong for 
him, the child's sweet voice said, When thou 
passest through the waters I will be witli thee." 
Then he knew that it was tlie Lord Clu-ist, the 
child Jesus, wliom lie had upon his shoulders. 

Now he went on triumphantly. Into the cave 



.178 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



he went, with the child still on his back. And 
the Christ-child gave him the name ^' Christo- 
pher " — Christ-bearer." Since then he has 
had peace in his soul, and has ever been known 
as St. Christopher. 

Shall we not learn St. Christopher's lesson, 
and pray God that the barrier of our own selfish 
will that keeps out His precious guiding pres- 
ence may be broken ? Susan Coolidge sweetly 
sings our truth, — 

" Thy kingdom here ? 

Lord, can it be ? 
Searching and seeking everywhere 

For many a year, 
' Tliy kingdom come ' has been my prayer — 
Was that dear kingdom all the while so near ? 

Blinded and dull 

With selfish sin, 
Have I been sitting at the gates 

Called Beautiful, 
Where Thy fair angel stands and waits. 
With hand upon the lock, to let me in ? 

Was I the wall 

Which barred the way. 
Darkening the glory of Thy grace. 

Hiding the ray 
Which, shining out as from Thy very face, 
Had shown to other men the perfect day ? 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



179 



Was I the bar 

Which shut me out 
From the full joyance which they taste, 

Whose spirits are 
Within Thy paradise embraced — 
Thy blessed paradise, which seems so far ? 

Let me not sit 

Another hour, 
Idly awaiting what is mine to win. 

Blinded in wit. 
Lord Jesus, rend these walls of self and sin, 
Beat down the gate, that I may enter in." 

IV. 

Finally, Ave have life's close as it comes to the 
one who trusts in God — " He fell on sleep." 

" Oh, if I were lucky enough to call this 
estate mine, I should be a happy fellow ! " said 
a young man. 

" And then ? " said a friend. 

" Why, then I'd pull down the old house and 
build a palace, have lots of prime fellows 
around me, keep the best wines and the finest 
horses and dogs in the country." 

" And then? " 

" Then I'd hunt and ride and smoke and dance 
and keep open house and enjoy life gloriously." 



180 



THE HO^^EYCOMBS OE LIFE 



And then ? " 
" Why, then, like other people, I should grow 
old, and not care so much for these things." 
"And then?" 

" Wh}^ tlien, I suppose, in the course of na- 
ture, I should leave all these pleasant things — 
and — well, yes — die ! " 

" And then ? " 
Oh, bother your ' thens ' ! I must be off." 

Many years after the friend was accosted 
with, " God bless you ! I owe my happiness to 
you ! " 

" How?" 

" By two words spoken in season, long ago, 
— 'and then?'" 

Where and how we are to sleep at night may 
not specially interest us in the morning of vigor, 
or amid the auxiety of noontide care ; but as 
the sun, with ever westering wheel, turns down- 
ward toward the night, it becomes a matter of 
solemn moment. 

" There comes a time to every mortal being, 
Whate'er his station or his lot in life, 
When his sad soul yearns for the final freeing, 
From all this jarring and unlovely strife. 



THE NOBILITY OF SERVICE 



181 



There comes a time when, having lost its savor, 
The salt of wealth is worthless. When the mind 

Grows wearied with the world's capricious favor. 
And sighs for something that it does not find." 

In such a time God "givetli his beloved 
sleep." As a ripe apple falls liglitly with 
sweet autumn fragrance into the gardener's 
hand, so do those who have served their gen- 
eration according to the will of God fall into 
the hand of the Divine Gatherer. 

In the conflict at Waterloo an English sol- 
dier, mortally wounded, was carried to the rear 
by his comrades, and at some distance from the 
battle-field was laid down under a tree. The 
dying man asked to have his knapsack o]3ened, 
that he might obtain his pocket Bible. He then 
requested a comrade to read to him, before he 
should breathe his last, from the words of Jesus : 
" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto 
you ; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid." " Now," said the dying soldier, " I die 
liappy. I desired to have peace with God, and 
I possess the peace which passeth all under- 
standing." 



182 THE HONEYCOMBS OE LIEE 



As the hair whitens about the Christian's 
brow, he thinks more of death and of the time 
when he is going home. It seems very natural 
that Longfellow, in an old age made sweet by 
his simple trust in God, should have written, — 

" Life to me is a station wherein a traveller stands — 
One absent long from home and nation 

In foreign lands; 
Like him who stands apart and listens 
Amid the twilight's deep'ning gloom, 
And hears approaching in the distance 

The train for home." 



X 



LUCY STONE 

A HEROINE OF THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN 
RIGHTS THE WOMAN AND HER WORK 

She is like the merchants' ship." — Prov. xxxi. 14. 

OUR text is the figure used to describe a good 
woman by a man who lived many years 
ago, but who knew much of humanity and was 
wise in the knowledge of life. 

We have just watched a beautiful ship pass 
safely into port, after a long and sometimes 
tempestuous voyage. The sails, despite all the 
experiences of wind and weather, were as white 
as when given to the breeze more than three- 
score and ten years ago. The cargo was rich 
and abundant. No port has been touched in 
all this voyage but has yielded something to the 
precious freightage of this queenly ship. At 
every port, and to every ship hailed on the high 
183 



184 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



seas, something has been given of rich supply ; 
but giving has enriched and not impoverished. 
The voyage throughout has been against the 
current and tide ; but the ship has been stanch, 
the helm true, and a braver captain never held 
a wheel. 

In fact, it seems to me that in talking about 
Lucy Stone I must begin there, because it im- 
presses me most. She was a fearless soul. Her 
consecration to her work, to her sense of duty, 
was so complete that it mastered her, and she 
was its most obedient servant. There was 
about her none of the bluster and self-assertion 
that sometimes attend upon courage, but oftener 
cover up secret cowardice. She was simpli- 
city itself, but as brave a warrior in heart as 
ever led forlorn hope into the mouth of death- 
dealing battery. Mrs. Mary A. Livermore re- 
calls how Gilbert Haven, himself a sort of con- 
noisseur on the subject of moral courage, once 
said to her that he believed Lucy Stone was the 
one woman in the world who would go to the 
stake and die for woman suffrage. "'Would 
you, Mrs. Livermore ? ' he asked me. And I said 
I was sure I would not — for it' is coming, com- 



LUCY STONE 



185 



ing, all in good time. ' But that,' said Gilbert 
Haven, 'isn't Lucy's way of giving herself 
wholly to a cause. She would go to the stake 
and die to get suffrage for women next week.' " 
In her heroic living Lucy Stone did many 
things that were greater tests than dying for 
her fidelity to the sacred cause of equal rights. 
All her young life was one constant martyrdom 
to principle. In these days it is hard to put 
ourselves back into her place, and understand 
what it meant to her delicately strung, sensi- 
tive soul to be called a fool and crazy, because 
she longed for an education. There is no more 
courageous and truly heroic life in American 
history than this. See that young girl with all 
the centuries against her, prejudice, conserva- 
tism, ignorance, and poverty all frowning upon 
her, yet gathering her seemingly lielpless re- 
sources together to fight against all odds. To 
me it is as splendid as David before Goliath. 
Watch her as she gathers chestnuts and picks 
berries, hoarding each precious penny, that it 
may help to buy books and assist her on toward 
college. See her on the way — not in the 
steamer cabin, but sleeping on the grain-sacks 



186 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

among the horses and freight. Go with her as 
she earns her board doing housework at three 
cents an hour ; living during iier college course 
on fifty cents a week ; having only one new 
dress during the entire course (and that a cheap 
print), and not seeing her friends at home 
throughout the entire four years. At last she 
is graduated at the head of her class, and is 
offered the commencement oration, provided 
she will let a man read it ; and then the splen- 
did courage of the woman shines out, for 
she refuses the honor unless she can deliver 
her own paper, just as a generation later she re- 
fused to vote on the school question unless she 
could vote in her own name. 

She became an accomplished Greek and He- 
brew scholar, that she might know whether 
it were true or not that the Bible sanctions 
the cruel injustice of the feudal ages toward 
women, and ever after maintained that it was 
on the side of equal rights for men and women. 

Her early life as an agitator was also liard, 
almost beyond our power to comprehend in 
these days, when so many women are the hon- 
ored representatives of the noblest institutions 



LUCY STONE 



187 



of our time, and plead all good causes with an 
eloquence and a logic which no one thinks of 
calling in question. But it was very different 
before Lucy Stone and her coadjutors pioneered 
a path and blazed a way thi'ough the forest of 
prejudice. She arranged her own meetings ; 
put out her OAvn handbills with a little package 
of tacks that she carried, driving the tacks in 
wdth a stone picked up in the streets ; and she 
took up her owai collections. When she passed 
the night in Boston she used to stay at a board- 
ing-house on Hanover Street, where she was 
lodged for six cents, sleeping three in a bed 
with the yoLing daughters of the house. 

A Maiden minister being asked to give notice 
of one of her meetings, did so in the following 
words : " I am asked to give notice that a hen 
will attempt to crow^ like a cock in the town 
hall at five o'clock to-morrow night. Those 
who like such music will, of course, attend." 

At a meeting in Connecticut, one cold night, 
a pane of glass was removed from the church 
window, and through a hose she w^as suddenly 
delug-ed from head to foot with cold water in 
the midst of her speech; but she w^rapped a 



188 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



shawl about her and went on with her lec- 
ture. 

At an open-air meeting on Cape Cod, where 
there were a number of speakers, the mob 
gathered with such threatening violence that 
all the speakers slipped away, one by one, un- 
til no one was left but Stephen Foster. 

"You had better go, Stephen," said Lucy, 
" they are coming." 

At that moment the mob made a rush, and 
one of the ringleaders, a big man with a club, 
sprang upon the platform. 

Lucy turned to him and said in a sweet voice, 
without any sign of fear, " This gentleman will 
take care of me." 

The man declared that he would. Tucking 
lier under one arm and holding his club in the 
other hand, he marched her through the crowd, 
which was roughly using Mr. Foster and the 
other speakers who had been caught. More 
than this, Lucy so w^on upon her protector that 
the big fellow mounted her on a stump and 
stood by with his club while slie addressed the 
mob upon the enormity of their conduct. So 
effective was this address that they took a col- 



LUCY STONE 



189 



lection of twenty dollars to pay for Mr. Foster's 
coat, wliieh they had torn to pieces. 

A great debt of gratitude is due to Lucy 
Stone for her heroic struggle for free speech. 
A world's temperance conyention was held in 
Xew York city as late as 1853. Ayhich spent 
nearly the entire time in an acrimonious debate 
which ended in excluding a delegate because 
she was a woman. In summing up the pro- 
ceedings of these meetings Horace Greeley says, 
in the Tribune of Sept. 7, 1853 : — 

This conyention has completed three of its 
four business sessions, and the results may be 
summed up as follows : — 

First day — Crowded a Ayoman off the plat- 
form. 

" Second day — Gagging her. 

TMrd day — Voting that she shall stay 
gagged." 

But the woman would not stay gagged, and 
to-day the largest and most splendidly organ- 
ized temperance army in tlie world is the 
Woman's Cluistian Temperance Union, led by 
those tAyin generals of reform, Frances Willard 



190 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



and Isabel Somerset, which is tying its bows of 
ribbon Avliite around the world ; but let it 
never be forgotten that the quiet but persistent 
steps of Lucy Stone marked the way for the 
coming of these triumphant hosts. 

Yet along with this dauntless courage there 
went a modesty that was as genuine as it was 
charming. I remember being in the Womaji's 
Journal office a few years ago, when Lucy 
Stone was talking with her old friend, Julia 
Ward Howe, and myself about a meeting where 
we were to speak together — in Newport, I 
think. When asked if she would not also 
speak, she cheerily replied, " Only for a few 
minutes. They will want to hear the new 
voices, and I am only a plain brown wren any 
way." Mrs. Howe, with delightful sweetness 
of manner and quick wit, replied, " If I remem- 
ber correctly, the little brown wren has a most 
exquisite song of her own." 

Lucy Stone's great work was to put the em- 
phasis on the right of every individual, without 
regard to sex, to have the mastery of his or her 
destiny. In making this empliasis she was 
oftentimes misundei-stood. It was to put the 



LUCY STONE 



191 



emphasis distinctly on this important point that 
on the occasion of her marriage to Mr. Black- 
well she declined to assume his name, in which 
decision he thoroughly acquiesced. 

On tlieir marriage they issued to the world a 
protest which clearly set forth their standpoint, 
and was in every way honorable to them botli. 
I think it will not be uninteresting to us to 
recall it here : — 

Wliile acknowledging our mutual affection by publicly 
assuming the relationship of husband and wife, yet, in 
justice to ourselves and a great principle, we deem it a 
duty to declare that this act on our part implies no sanc- 
tion of, nor promise of voluntary obedience to, such of the 
present laws of marriage as refuse to recognize the wife as 
an independent rational being, while they confer upon the 
husband an injimous and unnatural superiority, investing 
him with legal powers which no honorable man would ex- 
ercise, and which no man should possess. We protest es- 
pecially against the laws which give to the husband : — 

1. The custody of the wife's person. 

2. The exclusive control and guardianship of tlieir 
children. 

3. The sole owner of her personal, and use of her real, 
estate, unless previously settled upon her or placed in the 
hands of trustees, as is the case of minors, lunatics, and 
idiots. 

4. The absolute right to the product of her industry. 



192 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



5. Also against laws which give to the widower so 
much larger and more permanent interest in the property 
of the deceased wife than they give to the widow of the 
deceased husband. 

6. Finally, against the whole system by which the 
"legal existence of the wife is suspended during mar- 
riage," so that in most States she neither has a legal part 
in the choice of her residence, nor can she make a will, 
nor sue or be sued in her own name, nor inherit property. 

We believe that personal independence and equal human 
rights can never be forfeited, except for crime; that mar- 
riage should be an equal and permanent partnership, and 
so recognized by law ; that until it is so recognized, married 
partners should provide against the radical injustice of 
present laws by every means in their power. 

We believe that where domestic difficulties arise no 
appeal should be made to legal tribunals under existing 
laws, but that all difficulties should be submitted to the 
equitable adjustment of arbitrators mutually chosen. 

Thus reverencing law, we enter protest against rules 
and customs which are unworthy of the name, since they 
violate justice, the essence of law. 

[Signed] 

HENRY B. BLACKWELL. 
LUCY STONE. 

If all marriages could be entered upon in that 
spirit, we should be able to realize the truth of 
Tennyson's great poem, and hasten its fulfil- 
ment ; as has truly been illustrated in the lives 
of Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell : — 



LUCY STONE 



193 



" The woman's cause is man's; they rise or sink 
Together, dwarf d or godlike, bond or free; . . . 
If she be small, slight-natm'ed, miserable, 
How shall men grow ? . . . 
For woman is not midevelopt man, 
But diverse. . . . 

Yet in the long years, llker must they grow; 
The man be more of woman, she of man ; 
He gain in sweetness and in moral height, . . . 
She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care. 
Nor lose the childlike in the larger mind. . . . 
And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time, 
Sit side by side, fuU-simimed in all their powers, 



Self-reverent each, and reverencing each. 

Distinct in individualities. 

But like each other ev'n as those who love. 

Then comes the statelier Eden back to men: 

Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm: 

Then springs the crowning race of humankind." 

This great key-note of Lucy Stone's life, m- 
dividuality^ needs striking over and over again, 
until the dull ears of the cowardly, time-serv- 
ing multitude of copyists shall be roused to 
hear it. The world loses more in resources at 
that point than at any other. 

George Eliot has painted for us an exceed- 
ingly interesting picture of Stradivarius, the vi- 
olin-maker of Cremona. We watch the prince 



194 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



of violin-makers as lie stands in his workshop, 
exulting and yet humbled by the marvellous 
power of his own genius and skill. As he 
gazes at the beautiful instrument in his hand, 
he exclaims, — 

"'Tis God gives skill, 
But not without men's hands. He could not make 
Antonio Stradivari's violins 
Without Antonio." 

How deep the truth in these words whicli 
this queen of novelists puts in the mouth of 
the old musician ! To every one of us is given 
some genius for supplying the world's need, 
that is peculiarly our own and is granted to us 
alone. 

Lucy Stone has caught Avhat is the real es- 
sence of Christianity in her instant obedience 
to the command of duty. The sluggish con- 
servative says, " Let the world be as it is ; " but 
the optimistic Christ says, " Make the world 
what it should be." No man or woman has 
caught a conception of the true genius of Chris- 
tianity who admits that a wrong exists, and yet 
is willing that it should continue, or remains 
indifferent to its removal. Let us rather 



LUCY STONE 



195 



" Strike for that wliicli ought to be, 
And God will bless the blows." 

That Avas the spirit in which Lucy Stone lived 
and died. How fitting that her last words, 
caught on the ear of her gifted daugliter, Alice 
Stone Blackwell, as she bent over her for the 
parting message, should have been these so 
noble, " Make the world better." 

Oh, that we all might catch the inspiration 
of that deathless purpose 1 

Her work for justice toward woman in the 
opening of avenues of employment has perhaps 
met with a readier reward than any other phase 
of her many-sided life-work. She lived to see 
the half-dozen employments open to women in 
her girlhood nmltiply into hundreds during- her 
serene old age. She was pained, however, in 
her last years, as we all should be, at the cruel 
injustice which pays woman to-day not accord- 
ing to the work she performs, but according to 
her sex. 

In Boston the School Board set the example 
of injustice, and it is followed in all the large 
stores, so that we have the spectacle of thou- 
sands of women, who are expected to pay as 



196 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



much for education, living, travel, and recrea- 
tion as if they were men, yet constantly dis- 
counted from thirty to seventy per cent in 
their wages because they are women. It is 
cruelly unjust, and there cannot be other than 
great sorrow and hardship while it lasts. 

She lived long enough to see the great tide 
of intelligence and opinion set toward the goal 
for which she labored. She lived to see more 
than a score of States grant school suffrage to 
women; to see two others grant them municipal 
suffrage ; and one sovereign State admitted as 
such by the United States Congress, with equal 
suffrage impregnably imbedded in its constitu- 
tion. Although she did not live to see the full 
fruition of her dreams for humanity, she lived 
to grasp this token, and in her heart was the 
faith that all the other States should be fash- 
ioned like unto Wyoming. 

She lived to see the day when even the most 
intelligent of her opponents admit that the 
speedy success of equal privilege and responsi- 
bility between the sexes is assured. 

The Avhole current of modern opinion sweeps 
that way with irresisible force. 



LUCY STOXE 



197 



Mr. Gladstone said eight years ago. s^oeaking 
of home rule for Ireland. You cannot fight 
ao^ainst the future." He ayIio fio^its to sustain 
the decrepit and dying aristocracy of sex is 
warring against the futiti-e. AVoman Avill come 
to her own. She will come into the ]\Ietli- 
odist General Conference and the Presbyterian 
Synod. She will come to the pulpit and the 
bar. She ^^"111 come to the jury-box and the 
bench. She Avill come to the ballot, and that 
will be the golden key t') justice in wages, in 
law, and in society. 

Lucy Stone was great in all essential ele- 
ments. Life to her was always earnest and im- 
portant. The fires of her consecrated enthusi- 
asm for httmanity never burned out — indeed, 
never burned low. 

Many people Avhose yottth has flamed with 
great and earnest purpose, haA'e lost life's zest 
in later years, and lived on like a prophet 
without a message ; like extinct volcanoes, in- 
teresting only as more or less picttiresque ruins 
of former greatness. But to the end deep ear- 
nestness was manifest in Avhatever Lucy Stone 
did. That which g-axe her A^oice its hio-hest 



198 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



charm was a certain indescribable soul-force 
with which it was charged. Colonel Higgin- 
son, at the funeral service, related how he 
once took the brilliant Helen Hunt Jackson to 
hear Lucy Stone speak at a Avoman-suffrage 
meeting in New York. On the way she con- 
fided to him that she did not in the slightest 
believe in the claims of the suffragists, that 
she thought they were the greatest fanatics, 
but was gohig to hear them to get the material 
for an amusing letter for a New York news- 
paper. Returning home after the meeting, Mr. 
Higginson said, " Well, I suppose you have 
plenty of matter for your article?" Seizing 
liis arm with impetuous feeling, she said, Do 
you suppose I could write one Avord against 
anything that a woman with a voice like Lucy 
Stone's wanted done ? " 

Because she gave herself with such sublime 
consecration to the one great work to which she 
was as truly called of God as ever prophet or 
minister was to his mission, some thought she 
was narrow ; but it was the narrowness of the 
Matterhorn, which contracts the outlines of its 
lofty cone that it ma}^ the better cleave the 



LUCY STOXE 



199 



clouds and mount nearer to the stars ; . it was 
the narrowness of the majestic Columbia River, 
that deepens its channel and gathers its force 
to cut asunder the Ca-cade Mountains : it was 
the narrowness of the thunderbolt, that concen- 
trates its electric might that it may smite that 
at which it is hurled ! 

Yet she was broad like the Marterhorn in 
its wide-reaching base intrenclied in the Alps : 
she was broad like the Columbia, that slakes 
the thirst of liocks and herds and towns, and 
makes fertile valleys and plains : she was broad 
like the electricity, that gives its virile stimulus 
to the lowliest life. Those who were nearest to 
her knew that she had great breadtli of mind 
and heart. She Avas too great for anything nar- 
row or little. Site never cherished for a moment 
a petty feeling of envy or jealottsy. In many 
conversations with lier I never detected a note 
of pic|tte at another's success, which one often 
o-rieves OA'er as the infirmitA' of some o-ood and 
great people. Lucy Stone rejoiced at the suc- 
cess of CA^ery Avorker for reform, and was always 
readA- Avith her sympathetic tribute of praise. 

She ncA'er forgot the lessons learned in the 



200 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



hard school of poverty and trial ; and when 
fame and consideration and abundance came, 
she held them all as a steward for any of her 
brothers and sisters who had need. 

That is a characteristic story which Mrs, 
Livermore tells in the Transcript: "I remem- 
ber on one occasion she was about to take up 
and help a poor woman for whom I believed 
little or nothing could be done ; a woman I had 
been through the mill with, and had not suc- 
ceeded in helping as I wished. I told Lucy 
Stone all I could tell her. I begged her not to 
burden herself. She had cares enough already. 
She heard me through (and I talked, I assure 
you), and then she said in her soft voice, 'I 
believe all you say, but I shall do what I in- 
tended for her just the same.' " 

She had great hospitality for youth. She 
was never afraid of being crowded to one side. 
Nothing delighted her more than to see young 
men and young women enlisting earnestly in 
the ranks she had so long led. 

She lived on a high level of thought and 
feeling. I never rose from a conversation with 
her without a sense of having come into touch 



LUCY STOXE 



201 



with a lofty spirit, and going away with some- 
thing of the stimulus one receives from a A'iew 
from a hill-top. Lucy Stone lived constantly 
on the highlands, and breathed always the at- 
mosphere of noble purpose. She grew old 
retaining her youthful heart and sweetness of 
spirit. The currents against which she had 
contended all her life had not soured her. She 
was young in soul, and courageous to do her 
duty in all worlds. Mrs. Livermore said at 
her funeral, When Lucy Stone celebrated her 
seventy-fifth birthday, I wrote her a letter. 
I told her I didn't know whether she would 
wish to be congratulated or commiserated on be- 
ing seventy-five. If she felt that it was good, 
I wished to congratulate her ; and if it seemed 
too far along the way, and she would rather 
have commiseration, she should have the com- 
miseration with all my heart, for we were old 
comrades in the fight, and in every way must 
keep together in the procession until the end. 
Her answer was like a bugle-call. She said she 
would never drop out of the procession. About 
a fortnight ago I went to see her for the last 
time, and she held out her hand and repeated 



202 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



some of my words, and said, ' And now I have 
dropped out.' But the words she added were 
of perfect fearlessness of death. ' 1 have al- 
ways believed it was better farther on,' she said; 
and when I took her hand before I came away, 
she said, ' We shall shake hands again some- 
time, somewhere. We shall know each other 
and be comrades still.' " 

Shall we not all learn her secret of growing 
old with hands and hearts full of great hopes 
and deeds, that shall make us able to I'ealize 
with her the glorious possibilities suggested in 
Lucy Larcom's sweet poem? — 

" Old — we are growing old : 

Going on through a beautiful road, 
Finding earth a more blessed abode; 
Nobler work by our hands to be wrought, 
Freer paths for our hope and our thought ; 
Because of the beauty the years unfold, 
We are cheerfully growing old \ 

Old — we are growing old : 

Going up where the sunshine is clear; 

Watching grander horizons appear 

Out of the clouds that enveloped our youth; 

Standing firm on the mountains of truth; 

Because of the glory the years unfold, 

We are joyfully growing old ! 



LUCY STONE 



Old — we are growing old : 

Going into the gardens of rest 

That glow through the gold of the west, 

Where the rose and the amaranth blend, 

And each path is the way to a friend; 

Because of the peace the years unfold, 

We are thankfully growing old 

Old — are we growing old? 

Life blooms as we travel on 

Up to the hills, into fresh, lovely dawn; 

We are children who do but begin 

The sweetness of living to win; 

Because heaven is in us to bud and unfold, 

We are younger for growing old!" 



XI 



FEESH BEEAD FOE TO-DAY'S HUNGEE 

" Give us this day our daily bread." — Matt. vi. 11. 




|HIS is the appropriate attitude of all men, 
rich or j^oor, before God. 



It is not the attitude of the worldling who 
has weaned himself away from his childhood's 
dependence upon God. You see a good speci- 
men of him in "the rich fool " of the Saviour's 
parable. Neither is it the attitude of the wor- 
rying, fretting soul. Says Amelia E. Barr, 
" Worrying is just the thing in life that is not 
needful ; for one worry can as effectually spoil 
its savor as one aching nerve can make the 
whole body sick. Yet there are undoubtedly 
self-tormentors, who feel a kind of luxury in 
having something to worry about, and who even 
elevate into a virtue their depressing faculty of 
always being ' prepared for the worst,' though 
204 



FRESH BREAD FOR TO-DAY's HUNGER 205 



their preparation never in any degree arms 
them against impending misfortune. However^ 
the troubles that the worrier foresees are sel- 
dom real ones. They are only clhmeras, with 
the ]3roportions of giants and the substance of 
phantoms, yet to the unhappy iuvokers of them 
they are at times very real horrors ; and when it 
is ' their hour ' a sensible person will not try to 
fight foes as intangible as ghosts. The par- 
oxysm being on, worriers must be allowed to 
make themselves as miserable as they desire. 
Any allusion to the sufferings of others Avill be 
set down as indifference to theirs, and an effort 
to cheer them would be an impertinent doubt 
of their judgment and foresight ; for the true 
. worrier will allow nothing for favorable prob- 
abilities, and will suffer nothing to go by 
faith." 

Yet, as she points out, there are more than 
sixty admonitions in the Bible against fear or 
unnecessary anxiety, and these so various and 
yet so positive, that a Christian has not a legiti- 
mate subject for worry left. Certainly not on 
meat and money matters ; for he is told, " Be- 
hold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, 



206 



THE HOKEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet 
your heavenly Father feecleth them. Are ye 
not much better than they ? " Not perplexities 
and uncertainties : for God has promised, " I 
will bring the blind by a way that they knew 
not ; I A\'ill lead them in paths that they have 
not known ; I will make darkness light before 
them, and crooked things straight." Not be- 
cause our work seems greater than our strength ; 
for He giA^eth powder to the faint ; and to them 
that have no might he increaseth strength," 
Have we enemies before whom we tremble ? 
"If God be for us, who can be against us?" 
Are we in sorrow ? " I, even I, am he that 
comforteth you." Do we fear death? Jeho- 
vah has promised to strengthen and sustain us, 
and surely we may smile on that last enemy if 
God smiles on us ! 

Our text illustrates the attitude of expectant 
faith. The richest soul in the universe is the 
one that completely believes God. 

The saintly McCheyne said, " Believe none, 
and you will have no joy. Believe little, and 
you will have little joy. Believe much, and 
you Avill have much joy. Believe all, and you 



FRESH BREAD FOR TO-DAY's HUNGER 207 



will have all joy, and your joy will be full. It 
will be like a bowl lipping over — good meas- . 
ure, pressed down and running over." 

The elder Dr. Eeabody, surrounded all his 
life by the doubting class of religionists, assures 
us that there never was a time when faith was 
so easy as now, such clear evidence to benr it 
up. He saj^s, " Pseudo-liberalism has had a 
long series of what it has deemed final dispensa- 
tions and undoubtedly destined triumphs. One 
of the most curious chapters in the history of 
mind is that of the phases of thought, science, 
philosophy, speculation, which have been going 
to put an end to Christianity, but which have 
themselves come to an early, if not an untimely, 
end, and which would be forgotten but for obit- 
uaries of Christian authorship ; and in every 
instance Christianity has made capital of the 
bankrupt assets, and has gained wealth and 
strength from the genius and learning invested 
for its overthrow. ... In great part by means 
of these bankruptcies Christianity stands to-day 
on a firmer foundation of evidence than ever 
before. Feeble defences have been broken 
down, only to reveal their needlessness, only 



208 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



to lay bare the foundation on the Rock of 
Ages, which they often hid from sight. I 
hesitate not to say that there are at the pres- 
ent time stronger reasons for believing Chris- 
tianity and its Author to be the record and 
incarnation of the divine truth, law, and love, 
than have been manifest in any jDreceding age 
since that when Christ in person bore witness 
of Himself, and the Father who sent Him bore 
witness of and with Him." 

One well says that " earnest souls know how 
priceless is this faith which shines through the 
darkness of sorrow, and feels the helping God 
ever near, the immortal world bright and sure. 
There is no loss that can happen to man or 
woman greater than this — the loss of hope, of 
confidence in the worth of life, of faith that 
victory and blessing await those who sincerely 
seek to know and do the will of God." 

There is a touching little poem of a pilgrim 
band talking together of the great losses that 
had come to them in life : — 

" Some talked of vanished gold, 
Some of proud honors told, 

Some spoke of friends that were their trust no more." 



FEESH BEEAD FOR TO-DAY"s HUXGER 209 



Some, with quivering lips, spoke of those thev 
had hist in death, and others, with deeper grief, 
of those tliey had lost in sin. 

'•But. when tlieir tales were done, 
There spake among them one, 
A stranger, seeming from all sorrow free: 
' Sad losses have ye met, 
But mine is heavier yet; 
For a believing heart hath gone from me.' 

'Alas,* these pilgrims said, 

' For the living and the dead, 

For fortune's cruelty, for love's sure cross, 

For the wrecks of land and sea, — 

But, however it came to thee. 

Thine, stranger, is life's last and heaviest loss.' " 

And it is true ; for experience shoAVS that 
"all things "in the conquest of sin. the doing 
of duty, the bearing of trouble — - all things 
are possible to him that believeth." In the 
believino' heart God and Christ and Love and 
Heaven are real treasures of wliich no misfor- 
tune can rob us, and whicli mean strength and 
courage and eternal hope. 

Let us acquaint ottrselves with the spirit of 
the Bible. 

A Clnistian Italian fruit-vender sat behind 



210 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



her neatly arranged fruit-stand — a girl of four- 
teen — absorbed in reading her Bible. She did 
not hear the footsteps of a gentleman who was 
passing by, and was startled by his question, — 
What are you reading that interests you so 
much ? " 

She timidly replied, " The Word of God, sir." 

" Who told you that the Bible is the Word 
of God ? " he inquired. 

" God told me Himself," she replied, with 
childlike innocence. 

" God told you ? Impossible ! How did He 
tell you ? You have never seen Him, nor talked 
with Him. How, then, could He tell you that 
the Bible is His Word ? " 

For a few seconds the girl seemed confused 
and silent. The man, who was a sceptic, and 
took delight in undermining the faith of people 
in the Scriptures, felt confident that he had con- 
founded the simple-hearted girl. She soon re- 
covered herself, and her ready wit came to her 
aid. There was a flash in her dark eyes as she 
asked, — 

" Sir, who told you there is a sun yonder in 
the blue sky above us ?" 



FRESH BREAD FOR TO-DAY'S HUXGER 211 



" Who told me ? " said the man, smiling 
some\yhat contemptuously; for he fancied the 
girl was trying to hide her ignorance under an 
irrelevant question. ^* Who told me ? Xo- 
body ; I don't need to be told. The sun tells 
this about itself. It warms me, and I love its 
lio'ht. That is tellina enoug-h." 

" Sir,'' cried the girl, Avitli intense earnestness, 
as she stood before him with clasped hands, 
"you have put it right for both Bible and sun. 
That is the way God tells me this is His Book. 
I read it, and it warms my heart and gives me 
light. I loA^e its light, and no one but Ood can 
give such light and warmth through the pages 
of a book. It must be His. I don't want 
more telling ; that's telling enough, sir. As 
sure as the sun is in heaven, so sure is God 
shining- through this Book." 

The sceptic was abashed. The earnest faith 
of the young fruit-seller amazed him. He could 
adroitlv insinuate doubts into the minds of 
those who have only given intellectual assent 
to the truth in God"s Book, but the girl's heart 
experience of the power of God's Word was an 
CA^idence he could not shake. 



212 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



If we live in that spirit we shall be able to 
sing Mrs. Sangster's song, — 

" Give us this clay, dear Lord, our daily bread; 
We do not ask to-morrow's till it come; 
But on the journey, day by day, are fed, 
Until Thou guide us to our heavenly home. 

Give us this day the patience that we need, 

So many little things our spirits try; 
Give us the Word with eager love to heed. 

Content, although our wish Thou mayst deny. 

Give us this day Thy wisdom; when perplexed 
We know not how to turn nor what to do; 

Save us, we pray, from being weakly vexed, 

And lead us, hour by hour, this one day through. 

Give us this day the courage and the cheer 
To face Thy foes and ours with look serene; 

Keveal Thyself, so constant and so near. 

That we shall see Thee — not a cloud between. 

Give us this day more loyalty to Thee, 
More hatred of the sijis that wound Thy heart; 

More grace Thy loving followers to be. 

Choosing in Thee, for aye, the better part. 

Give us this day our own light cross to bear, 
As though it bore us on to heights divine ; 

Give us to realize, Thy cross who share. 

That still the heaviest end, dear Lord, is Thine. 



FRESH BREAD FOR TO-DAY's HUNGER 213 

Give us this very day our daily bread ; 

Thou knowest all our wants. That want we bring; 
And in thy footsteps, Saviour, as we tread, 

We hail Thee Master and we crown Thee King." 

II. 

We have here the appropriate attitude toward 
our fellow-men. Give us our- daily bread. It 
is the attitude of brotherhood. 

A man could not sincerely pray that prayer, 
and be at the same time engineering a corner 
on wheat, or running a sweat-shop, or getting 
his bread by selling intoxicants, or by renting 
his property for a saloon or brothel. A man 
cannot pray that prayer and carry on a chattel- 
mortgage wreckage shop, or expect to get his 
bread through a Louisiana lottery ticket, or any 
of the trickery schemes which are to deprive 
his neighbor of bread in order to increase the 
size of his own loaf. Our bread has relation 
to our Jieighbor's bread. Give us this day our 
daily bread. 

I must be sure that in getting my bread I 
have not poisoned my brother's loaf. I noted a 
good illustration of this the other day. Lady 



214 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Burton was bequeathed by her husband, the 
late Sir Richard Burton, the manuscript of 
The Scented Garden," a collection of very 
rare but exceedingly immoral tales which he 
had translated from the Arabic. Lady Burton 
was offered 130,000 for this manuscript; but, 
although she had no other property, she pre- 
ferred to burn it. To a man who assured her 
that she could easily get fifteen hundred sub- 
scribers for the book at twenty dollars each, she 
answered, " Out of fifteen hundred persons, 
fifteen would probably read it out of the spirit 
of science in which it was written, while the 
other fourteen hundred and eighty-five Avould 
read it for filth's sake, then would pass it 
on to their friends, and the harm done would be 
incalculable." So she burned the manuscript, 
showing herself a brave and righteous woman. 

That is the spirit of our Lord's Prayer, and it 
is the spirit that is to transform this wicked 
world. 

The influence of such a character upon the 
lost is powerfully manifested in the relations of 
the Bishop with Jean Valjean, the convict, in 
Victor Hugo's great story. Many of you recall 



FEESH BEEAD FOE TO-DAY's HUXGEE 215 



the stream of life and lio4it issuino- from the 

o o 

open door and tlie hospitable welcome and 
courteous housing of the man who had been a 
o'allev convict for twentv-six years, and whose 
release was but the occasion of a houndiuo- yioi- 
lance and susj^icion that made freedom an equal 
slavery with the galleys. There is no stronger 
description in literature of the struggle of the 
powers of the good, awakened in the soul by a 
Christlike touch of kindness, with the powers 
of evil born and groAvn in the darkness of social 
oppression and misery, than the description of 
Jean Yaljean's night in the Bishop's house, 
when he passes the sleeping Bishop to steal the 
silver: and the mornino- scene in the o-arden, 
when, in the hands of the officers, the Bishop 
beholds the thief of tlie night, and instead of 
revilings and accusations, adds the silver can- 
dlesticks to the silver, explaining that it was 
a gift, and not a robbery, that had occurred. 
The power of holy character over men is exhib- 
ited with clearness in these words of the Bishop 
at parting Avith Jean Valjean, Jean Yaljean, 
my brother, you no longer belono- to cauI. but to 
good. It is your soul that I buy from you. I 



216 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



withdraw it from black thought and the spirit 
of perdition, and I give it to God." That hour 
was an apocalypse to the convict. He came 
forth from it a new creature. Such is the les- 
son of a godly life. 

Brothers, sisters, this is not an impossible 
ideal that Victor Hugo has drawn — it is a 
transcript of that high and holy command, " As 
the Father hatli sent me, even so send I you." 

In New York city, during one of the blister- 
ingly hot nights of a recent summer, a minister 
was tossing on his bed in his comfortable room. 
No such high temperature for twenty years. 
His sleep was troubled. The whole city round 
about was feverish. He was dreaming wretch- 
edly of the suffering children seeking rest upon 
the roofs, doorsteps, pavements, wagons stand- 
ing in the streets — everywhere out of the 
houses. The windows were open ; it was two 
o'clock. In his sleep he heard a faint little cry, 
the call of a tiny and feeble infant. Any father, 
sleeping never so soundly, would have aroused 
instantly. Out on the sidewalk a man was 
walking back and forth carrying a child. It 
was the work of a few moments to reach him. 



FRESH BREAD FOR TO-DAY'S HUNGER 217 



"Its mother is worn out; I am doing what I 
can ; I am afraid we can't keep her. I work all 
day. This is my seventh night of it^ The 
little one was soon stretched upon a suitable 
pillow. It had cooling and refreshing drink. 
The father, with unspeakable gratitude, lay 
down upon the sidewalk and slept. The minis- 
ter walked with the child till long after day- 
light. 

Do you think it would be very hard to make 
that man believe in Christianity after that? If 
we illustrate Christianity in a living, breathing 
brotherhood they can apprehend it. 

One of the most influential characters in 
England just now is Mr. Ben Tillett, a day- 
laborer in the east of London, and a member of 
a Congregational Church in that quarter. He 
was one of the leaders of the dock laborers' 
strike a few years ago. During that time he 
was one day addressing a crowd of dockmen, 
and knowing how that crowd hates a sermon, 
but also how warm are their hearts, he went on 
to describe, with great power and pathos, the 
Man of Nazareth. He gave the e very-day his- 
tory of the Master, and told what he thought 



218 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

He would do if He owned the docks. The 
crowd stood, hushed and attentive, till he had 
finished ; when one big, gi'imy fellow shouted, 
" Ben Tillett, I don't know who this Man of 
Nazareth is that you've been talking about, but 
I move we give Him three cheers " — and 
cheers rang out from thousands of throats of 
men who had dimly recognized the Son of 
God. 

God help us to win appreciation for our Lord 
by the brotherly attitude of our daily lives ! 



XII 



A GLAD SIGHT FOE WEAEY EYES 

"Sir, we would see Jesus." — John xii. 21. 

THIS was the language of a little company of 
Greeks. The Greeks were the most like 
modern peoples of all those who lived in the 
days of Christ. They were a bright, alert sort 
of people ; ahvays digging into the whys and 
wherefores of things, and ready to pounce on a 
new idea as a hawk seizes on a bird. Any man 
with a bright thought was sure of a hearing and 
a debate among the Grecians. These restless, 
inquisitive Greeks came 'over to Jerusalem from 
some city like Corinth or Ephesus ; and imme- 
diately on arrival they heard conversation on 
every hand about Jesus. It was the chief sub- 
ject of discussion everywhere. In the inn, in 
the bazaar, along the street, as well as about 
the temple door, people were talking earnestly 
219 



220 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



about Jesus. They were discussing, no doubt, 
the singular gentleness of His manner, His 
strange, revolutionary addresses, and the mar- 
vellous miracles which He performed. The 
Greek travellers, on hearing this, are fired with' 
interest, and immediately try to find some one 
who can give them an introduction to Jesus. 
Some one of whom they make inquiry refers 
them to Philip, doubtless because he has the 
reputation of being a friend of Christ's. Blessed 
reputation ! My brother, you may see here one 
of the chief duties of a Christian — to intro- 
duce strangers to Jesus. 

Now, I have called your attention to this in- 
cident that we might reflect on the beauty and 
profit of beholding Jesus. There are several 
ways in which we may see Jesus, all of them 
different, and each of them important. I can 
only enumerate some of the chief offices in 
which we may behold Jesus as the great Leader 
and Burden-bearer of our race. 

1. 

We may see Jesus as a Teacher. Jesus is 
the great teacher of mankind in spiritual things. 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 221 



How infinitely superior He is Ave do not appre- 
ciate until we compare the bright sunlight of 
His words with the vague uncertainty of the 
utterances of the greatest teachers and philoso- 
phers the world has known. 

Phillips Brooks, in his lecture on The In- 
fluence of Jesus on the Intellectual Life of 
Man," draws a striking parallel between the 
teaching of Socrates and Jesus concerning the 
mysteries of death and the future life. The 
philosopher asks, " Shall a man avIio really 
loves knowledge, and Avho is firmly persuaded 
that he shall never truly attain it except in 
Hades, be angry and sorry to have to die?" 
The Son of God says, Now I go to him that 
sent me." Socrates says, '^Be well assured I do 
expect this, that I shall be among good men, 
though this I do not feel so confident about ; 
but I shall go to gods who are good governors." 
Jesus cries, " Now, O Father, glorify thou me 
with thine own self." Socrates draws in con- 
fused but elaborate detail the road to Hades 
-and its geography. Jesus says, "In my Father's 
house are many mansions;" and, "Father, 
I will that they whom thou hast given me be 



222 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



with me where I am." Socrates is noble in 
his frank uncertainty about life. He says, 
" Whether I tried in the right wa}^ and with 
what success, I shall know certainly when I 
arrive there, if it please God." Jesus is divine 
in His certainty: O righteous Father, the 
world hath not known thee, but I have known 
thee." And again, I have finished the work 
which thou gavest me to do." Socrates tells 
of a demon " or angel who has the care of 
every man while he is alive, and when he is 
dead takes him to the place of judgment. 
Jesus says, "I will pray the Father, and he 
shall give you another Comforter, that he 
may abide with jou forever." He shall tes- 
tify of me." Socrates says when they ask him 
for his last legacy, " If you take good cai'e 
of yourself you will always gratify me and 
mine most." Jesus says, "This is my com- 
mandment, That ye love one another, as I 
have loved you." 

How immeasurably above the enlightened 
selfishness or the guesses of the philosophers- 
is the sublime teaching of Jesus ! Shall we 
not sit at His feet and be His disciples ? 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 



223 



II. 



We may see Jesus as a Redeemer. The dark 
pall of sin is over all the earth. Sin lias crip- 
pled and baffled every man that has sought to 
master it in his own strength. When once a 
man has done a wrong thing it has an awful 
power of attracting him and making him hun- 
ger to do it again. If the wall of a dyke is 
sound it will keep the water out, but it is use- 
less when once the tiniest breach has been made ; 
the trickling rill soon becomes the flood. So the 
course of evil is ever wider and deeper and more 
tumultuous. Some one says, " The little sins 
get in at the window, and open the front door 
for the hiQ- housebreakers." One smooths the 
path for the other. All sin has an awful power 
of perpetuating and increasing itself. As the 
prophet says in his terrible vision of the dole- 
ful creatures that make sport in the desolate 
city, " None of them shall want her mate. The 
wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the 
wild beasts of the islands." Every sin tells 
upon the character, and makes the repetition of 
itself more and more easy. ''None is barren 



224 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



among them." And all sin is linked together 
in a slimy tangle, like a field of seaweeds, so 
that the swimmer, once caught in its oozy fin- 
gers, is almost sure to drown. 

It was into a world so held in bondage that 
Jesus came as a Redeemer. 

Some years ago a war raged in India be- 
tween the English and a native monarch named 
Tippoo Sahib. On one occasion several Eng- 
lish officers were taken prisoners ; among them 
one named Baird. One day a native ofiicer 
brought in fetters to be put on each of the 
prisoners, the wounded not excepted. Baird 
had been severely wounded, and was suffering 
from pain and weakness. A gray-haired officer 
said to the native official, — 

You do not think of putting chains upon 
that wounded young man? " 

" There are just as many pairs of fetters as 
there are captives," was the answer, "and every 
pair must be worn." 

" Then," said the officer, " put two pairs on 
me. I will wear his as well as my own." 

The end of the story is that Baird lived to 
regain his freedom — lived, indeed, to take cap- 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 225 

tive that very city; but the generous friend 
died in prison. He wore two pairs of fetters. 
But what if he had worn tlie fetters for all in 
the prison ? What if, instead of being a caj^tive 
himself, he had been free and great, and had 
quitted a glorious palace to live in their loath- 
some dungeon, to w^ear their chains, to bear 
their stripes, to suffer and die in their stead, 
that they might go free? Yet that is what 
Jesus has done. It is my blessed privilege to 
tell you, here and now, that no matter how 
black the pall of sin may hang over you, no 
matter how painful and disgraceful the hand- 
cuffs of sin may be that hold you in bondage, if 
you will receive the free grace of God's Son 
your chains shall be stricken off, and your 
prison doors be thrown wide open. 

Ill 

We may see Jesus as the Captain, not only 
of our own salvation, but of the spiritual armies 
that are battling for righteousness among men. 
The mission of Jesus in the world is to make a 
glorious conquest. Each one of us who are 



226 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



His followers is called to be a soldier in a stern 
conflict. You and I have to take our turn not 
only on the battle-field, but also in the more 
trying duty of standing " on guard." Our 
Captain has left special orders for us to 
" watch." 

A general, after gaining a great victory, was 
encamping with his army for the night. He 
ordered sentinels to be stationed all around the 
camp as usual. One of the sentinels, as he 
went to his station, grumbled to himself, and 
said, Why could not the general let us have 
a quiet night's rest for once, after beating the 
enemy ? I am sure there is nothing to be 
afraid of." The man then went to his station, 
and stood for some time looking about him. It 
was a bright summer night, but he could see 
nothing anywhere ; so he said, " I am terribly 
tired ; I shall sleep for just five minutes, out of 
the moonlight, under the shadow of this tree." 
So he lay down. Presently he started up, 
dreaming that some one had pushed a lantern 
before his eyes ; and he found that the moon 
was shining brightly down on him through a 
hole in the branches of the tree above him. 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 227 



The next minute an arrow whizzed past his 
ears, and tlie whole field before him seemed 
alive with soldiers in dark green coats, who 
sprang up from the ground, where they had 
been silently creeping onward, and rushed 
toward him. Fortunately the arrow had missed 
him ; so he shouted aloud to give the alarm, as 
he. ran back to some other sentinels. The army 
wa^; thus saved ; but the soldier said, " I shall 
never forget as long as I live that when one is 
at war one must watch." 

Napoleon one night set his pickets thick on 
the outposts of the camp. The order was, 
"Let nothing pass." The night wore on, and 
nothing sought to pass that line of trusty senti- 
nels. At last, in that deep darkness which 
precedes the dawn, a great dog came near the 
picket guard. " Back, sir, back I " cried the 
soldier. The dog whined and fawned, then 
moved past the line toward the sleeping tents. 
Another moment and the poor animal fell dead ; 
the sentry and his gun had been faithful to the 
commander's orders. Now the long lines of 
pickets are alert and stirring, the great camp is 
aroused, and the chief sends out a detachment 



228 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



to learn the cause of the single shot that liad 
thrilled each heart in that great army. " Only 
a dog. Why, 'tis the captain's missing dog ! 
Poor fellow, he has been gone for weeks, and 
now has come home only to die," said a soldier. 
But look more nearly ; off with the hide ! 'tis a 
man, a slight fellow, in the missing dog's coat. 
" So perish all spies ! " say they, while the faith- 
ful sentry, whose heart had so rebelled against 
shooting an innocent dog, and obeying so rigid 
and seemingly foolish an order, went back to 
his post full of grave thoughts concerning duty 
and obedience — that first great law which 
every soldier must learn. 

Our whole life is a war with evil, and even 
when we are most watchful many a stray dog 
of sin will seek to skulk into our camp. Our 
Captain says to us, "Watch and pray, that ye 
enter not into temptation." Sometimes great 
interests depend upon our fortitude and faith- 
fulness. 

A little while ago, on the occasion of the 
death of General Corse, I was interested in 
reading again the incident which gave rise to 
the popular gospel song " Hold the Fort," as it 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 229 

is given by the liistorian Lossing : At a place 
called Altooiia a great quantity of stores belong- 
ing to the government had been left by General 
Sherman, defended only by a small company. 
Suddenly the General found that the enemy had 
marched in heavy force toward this point with 
the purpose of capturing the garrison and the 
large amount of stores. He immediately de- 
spatched relief. From tlie summit of Kenes-aw, 
General Sherman could see the smoke and hear 
the booming of the great guns at Altoona, al- 
though eighteen miles distant. 

With sio-nal flptg-s, on the summit of the 
great Keiiesaw Mountain, which were seen 
through the field-glasses, he called to the com- 
mander at Altoona, " Hold the fort ; for relief is 
coming ! " 

To the great delight of Sherman, an answer 
came back from General Corse, — 

"I Willi" 

" He will hold out ; I know the man ! " ex- 
claimed Sherman to an officer standing near 
him. 

How is it with you, my brother, in regard to 
the work the Captain has set you to do — the 



230 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



fortress of truth and righteousness He has set 
you to defend ? Have you been so faithful 
that the Captain of your salvation can turn to 
the angel that stands by His side, and say, 
" He will hold out, I know ; for I know the 
man ? " 

IV 

We may see Jesus as a Friend. "I call you 
not servants ; I have called you friends," is the 
sweetest thing that Jesus ever said to His dis- 
ciples. And no other friend is so tender and 
loving as Christ. Tliere is a marvellous power 
in a sincere, sympathetic friendship to soothe a 
weary heart. 

There is a story told in connection with our 
war of a mother who received a despatch that 
her boy was mortally wounded. She immedi- 
ately went down to the front ; for she knew that 
the soldiers told off to watch the sick and 
wounded could not watch her boy as she could. 
So she went to the doctor, and said, — 

" Would you let me take care of my boy ? " 

The doctor said, — 

" He has just gone to sleep, and if you go to 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 231 



him the surprise will be so great it may be dan- 
gerous to him. He is in a very critical state. 
I will break the news to him gradually." 

" But," said the mother, "he may never wake 
up ; I should so dearly like to see him ! " 

Oh, liow she longed to see him ! 

Finally the doctor said, — 

" Well, you can see him ; but if you wake 
him up and he dies it will be your fault." 

" I will not wake him up," she said, " if I 
may only go by his dying cot and see him." 

She went to the side of the cot. Her eyes 
had longed to see him ; and as she gazed upon 
him she could not keep her hand off that pallid 
forehead, and she laid it gently there. There 
was love and sympathy in her touch, and the 
moment the slumbering boy felt it, he said, — 

" O mother, have you come ? " 

He knew there was sympathy and affection 
in the touch of that hand. And it brought 
more speedy healing to him than all the doctors 
and their medicine. 

And if you, my brother, who have been indif- 
ferent or sinful, will but let Jesus reach out 
His hand and touch your lieart, you, too, will 



232 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



find that there is sympathy and love and heal- 
ing in the Saviour's touch. 

And this friendship with Jesus will not be 
sundered by death. Indeed, we are persuaded 
that no true friendship between pure souls can 
be affected by death. It will comfort you to 
read over, with this thought in your mind, the 
history of Jesus' communion with His friends 
after His death and resurrection. Behold the 
risen Christ ! He has been crucified upon the 
cross ; He has been buried for three days in 
Joseph's tomb — but now that He has burst the 
bands of death no change has come over His 
mind. His memory, or His heart. His thoughts 
all flow in the same old channels. There is the 
same heavenly tone in His w^ords ; He lingers in 
the same favorite places ; He seeks the same so- 
ciety of His disciples. Their names are as dear 
to Him as of yore ; and we hear Him saying, 

Simon, lovest thou me ? " or speaking softly, 

Mary ! " 

The new life is but the old life on a higher, 
holier level — the old life transfigured, with all 
its earthiness removed. Death only gathers up 
the broken links of life and welds them to- 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WE All Y EYES 233 

gether for eternity. We sometimes speak of 
our friends who have gone on before us as 
''lost." They are not lost. They are ours 
still, ours as much as they ever were; and they 
will be ours forever. 
Whittier sings, — 

" I have friends in the spirit land; 
Not shadows in a shadowy band — 
'Not others, but themselves, are they; 
And still I think of them the same 
As when the Master's summons came." 

Earth is only the beginning of that perfect 
friendship which shall find its full fruition in 
the heavenly home on high. We are only pil- 
grims here. 

In recent years some most interesting experi- 
ments have been made with homing pigeons as 
messengers. One is lost in admiration at the 
fidelity of these birds to their home, and the 
mysterious faculty by which they find their 
way. Loose the homing pigeon anywhere, and 
it starts instantly homeward. If you carry it 
far away and toss it up, it spirals to a great 
height in the air, sails around a moment or t\yo, 
chooses its course, and sets out for home, mak- 



234 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



ing sometimes a hundred miles an hour and a 
flight a thousand miles long. This knowledge 
is strange enough to fill us with awe. It is as 
if that little flying craft of the upper ocean, 
with trim, slender hull and wide spread of can- 
vas, had machinery on board for winding in its 
clue, as the Great Eastern might take upon 
board and coil away an Atlantic cable from 
mid-ocean shoreward, so coming in at last to 
the headlands of Heart's Content. 

" ' Oh, wise little birds, how do ye know 

The way to go ? ' 

' We but obey 
One who calleth us far away, 
And maketh the way appear.' " 

Heinrich Heine, having passed through scep- 
ticism of the bitterest sort, at last came to be 
a Christian. He attributed his conversion to 
reading the Bible, and declared that, as he read 
it, " a sort of heavenly homesickness fell upon 
me and drove me forth." 

The homiiio- instinct is in the soul of man; 
and the God who placed such marvellous fac- 
ulty of finding its way in the little pigeon's 
brain, has not left the human heart without 



A GLAD SIGHT FOR WEARY EYES 235 



chart or compass. We circle around like pi- 
geons, bewildered, in the air, till we take the 
way of Christ homeward througii penitence, 
forgiveness, and obedience ; and as we settle 
down to our steady fiiglit heavenward, we 
sing, — 

" This is tlie way I long have sought, 
And mourned because I found it not." 



XIII 



OUR BROTHER IN YELLOW 
America's vision fPwOM the housetop ; or, the 

CHINESE IN the SHEET OF MODERN CIVILI- 
ZATION. 

" Wliat God hath cleansed, make not thou common." — 
Acts x. 15 (R. V.). 

IN America to-day we are looking on a vis- 
ion like Peter's. The panorama is on a 
grander scale. Instead of from a tanner's 
house in Joppa, we look from the vantage- 
ground of nearly nineteen centuries of toilsome 
climb. For a sheet we have the world-wide 
folds of modern civilization; and inside, not 
" four-footed beasts and creeping things," but 
"all sorts and conditions of men." The mes- 
sage, however, is the same — that " God is no 
respecter of persons," but "hath made of one 
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the 
face of the earth." 

236 



OUK BROTHER IN YELLOW 



237 



That the vision might be indelibly stamped on 
Peter's memory, it was three times repeated 
before his astonished gaze. The American peo- 
ple are for the third time, as a nation, con- 
fronted with this great vision and its divine 
message of eqnality and brotherhood. It first 
came to us to show us our duty to the black 
man. Keen-eyed souls like Garrison and Phil- 
lips and Whittier and Lowell — the Peters of 
that later day — caught the message by intui- 
tion. In those shrewd "Biglow Papers " Low^- 
ell sings what it took a baptism of fire and blood 
to teach the multitude, — 

" Laborin' man an' laborin' woman 
Hev one glory an' one shame. 

'Tain't by turnin' out to hack folks 
You're a-goin' to git your right, 

Nor by lookin' down on black folks 
Coz you're put upon by wite. 

Slavery ain't o' nary color, 
'Tain't the hide that makes it wus, 

All it keers fer in a feller 

'S jest to make him fill its pus." 

Wendell Phillips tells us that when Daniel 
O'Connell entered the British Parliament with 



238 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Ireland on his heart, there were only two mem- 
bers there to speak for the antislavery cause, 
— Lushington and Buxton. These two had an 
agreemeJit with each other that when Lushing- 
ton spoke Buxton clieered him, and when Bux- 
ton spoke Lushington cheered him, and those 
were the only cheers they ever got. When 
O'Connell came into Parliament, what Avas 
known as the slave party, or faction, went to 
him with the proposition that if he would never 
go with those Abolitionists they would give him 
twenty-seven votes solid on every L4sh ques- 
tion ; but threatened that if he voted w^ith the 
Abolitionists they would be always solid against 
him. Grandly did O'Connell stand the test. 
''Gentlemen," said he, "God knows I speak for 
the saddest people the sun sees ; but may my 
right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue 
cleave to the roof of my mouth, if to save L-e- 
land — even L'cland — I forget the negro one 
single hour." Years afterward the same grand 
hero in the midst of a great speech lifted from 
the table a thousand-pound note, sent from New 
Orleans to help the Irish cause. He came to 
the front of the platform and said, " This is a 



OUR BROTHER IX YELLOW 



239 



draft of one tbousand pounds from the slave- 
holders of Xew Orleans, the unpaid wages of 
the negro. Mr. Treasurer, I suppose the treas- 
ury is empty ? " The treasurer nodded, and 
O'Connell went on, Old Ireland is very poor; 
but, thank God, she is not poor enough to take 
the unpaid wages of anyhody. Send it back I " 
Pliillips well says of him, The ocean of his 
philanthropy knew no shore." 

And is not that the message of Peter's vision 
at Joppa — that there are to be no shore-liDes 
to our philan til ropy, but that all men are our 
brothers ? 

The Rev. Huo-h Price Hug-hes of London 
has been studying the splendid utterances of 
Joseph ]Mazzini, the Christian hero and patriot 
of Italy, and comes to the conclusion that " De- 
mocracy is hell let loose, unless it is the democ- 
racy of Mazzini, democracy founded upon God." 
The democracy of ^lazzini, like that of Jesus 
Christ, has for its corner-stone " The Solidarity 
of Mankind." Listen to the beautiful and elo- 
quent words in Avhich ]\[azzini himself expresses 
this great Christian truth, — 

" Foremost and grandest amid the teachings 



240 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



of Christ were these two inseparable truths — 
There is hut one God; all men are the sons of 
God ; and tlie promulgation of these two truths 
changed the face of the world, and enlarged 
the moral circle to the confines of the inhabited 
globe. To the duties of men towards the 
famil}^ and country were added duties towards 
humanity. Man then learned that wheresoever 
there existed a human being there existed a 
brother; a brother with a soul immortal as his 
own, destined like himself to ascend towards 
the Creator, and on whom he was bound to 
besto\A' love, a knowledge of the faith, and 
help and counsel when needed." 

As Mazzini says in this remarkable passage, 
the love of home had existed from the begin- 
ning. So had the love of fatherland. Patriot- 
ism was found in the Greek and in the Roman 
heart as well as in the Christian ; but the love 
of the whole human race — that was a new 
idea. " That sentiment," says Mr. Hughes, 
" was a distinct addition to the moral stock of 
humanity." As the great German philologist. 
Max Miiller, says, the very word " humanity " 
never existed on earth until Christ came. It 



OUR BROTHER IN YELLOW 



241 



was then for the first time created to express 
a new conception. To use tlie beautiful lan- 
guage of Mazzini, The cliord of humanity 
was mute upon the Greek lyre." This is 
Christianity's great message — " Tliere is but 
one God ; all men are the sons of God." 

Only a little while ago Helen Hunt Jackson 
called us to a halt in regard to our dealings 
with Our Brother in Red," and by her heart- 
breaking revelations of " A Century of Dis- 
honor," brought the blush of shame to every 
true American cheek. And now it is the 
little Yellow Man from the East who is in our 
vision, and whose brotherhood demands our 
recognition. 

During the past week the Supreme Court of 
the United States has rendered a decision, by 
a vote of five to three, as important from a 
moral standpoint as the infamous Dred-Scott 
decision. I refer to the decision declaring 

o 

constitutional what is known as the " Geary 
Act," relatino- to Chinese reg-istration. 

This Act is certainly the climax of infamous 
legislation in our relations with China. It de- 
liberately and with brutal frankness violates 



242 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



our plighted faith as recorded in a treaty which 
emanated from us, and which we earnestly 
entreated the Chinese to sign against their 
desire. This is the way that treaty reads: 
" The United States of America and the Em- 
peror of China cordially recognize the inherent 
and unalienable right of man to change his 
home and allegiance, and also the mutual ad- 
vantagfe of free mig-ration and emio-ration of 
their citizens and subjects respectively from 
one country to the other, for the purpose of 
curiosity, of trade, or as permanent residents." 
With curious folly this Act proposes to break 
the treaty wherever it pleases us, by the most 
insulting restrictions, and hold it in good force 
wherever it provides for the protection of 
American citizens. The conditions of the Act 
are such that in a majority of cases it cannot 
possibly be obeyed. Every Chinaman is re- 
quired to prove by a luhite witness that he has 
been in this country during the whole time of 
Chinese restrictive legislation, reaching back to 
the administration of President Ha^^es. Many 
of these people cannot speak or understand our 
language. They are not a fixed population, 



OUR BROTHER IN YELLOW 



243 



and are often obliged to cross the continent in 
pursuit of work, putting them out of the reach 
of witnesses, if such exist. 

Representative Hitt, of Illinois, in his speech 
in Congress when the bill was under discussion, 
said : " The rule of all free countries and all 
civil laws is reversed. . . . Every one can un- 
derstand how difficult, how almost impossible, 
it is to make out such a long and costly line of 
proof, especially to a laboring man. This he 
must prove affirmatively or he can get no certifi- 
cate. If he is not granted a certificate — and 
we can readily see how officers on the Pacific 
coast would be glad to refuse it — he is ar- 
rested, imprisoned six months or less, and then 
expelled from the country. If he obtains it, he 
must carry it around with him, or be liable in- 
stantly and always to arrest, imprisonment, and 
deportation, like a convict. It is proposed to 
have one hundred thousand, or, as some gentle- 
men assert, two hundred tliousand, men in our 
countrv ticketed, tao-o-ed, almost branded — the 
old slavery days returned. Never before in a 
free countrv was there such a svstem of tao- 
ging a man like a dog, to be caught by the 



244 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



police and examined ; and, if his tag or collar 
is not all right, taken to the pound, or drowned, 
or shot." 

Both Justice Brewer and Justice Field point 
out clearly, in their dissent from the decision 
of a majority of the Supreme Court, that if 
such a law as this can be sustained there is 
no guaranty that similar treatment may not be 
accorded to other classes of our population than 
the Chinese. Justice Field, who has himself 
resided in California for many years, and who 
stands without a superior as a fearless man and 
able jurist, says in the course of his remarks, — 

" Aliens domiciled within the country by its 
consent are entitled to all the guaranties for 
the protection of their person and property 
which are secured to native-born citizens. The 
moment any human being comes within the 
jurisdiction of the United States, with the con- 
sent of the government — and such consent 
will always be implied when not expressly 
withheld, and in the case of the Chinese la- 
borers before us was in terms given by treaty — 
he becomes subject to all their laws and amen- 
able to their punishment and entitled to their 



OUE BE OTHER IN YELLOW 245 



protection. Arbitrary and despotic authority 
can no more be exercised over tliem with ref- 
erence to their persons and property than over 
the persons and property of native-born citizens. 
They differ only from citizens in the respect 
that they cannot vote or hold any public office. 
As men having our common humanity they are 
protected by all the guaranties of the Constitu- 
tion. To hold that they are subject to any 
different law, or are less protected in any 
particular, is, in my jadgment, against the 
teachings of our history, the practice of our 
government, and the language of our Consti- 
tution. 

'^Let us test this doctrine by a few illustra- 
tions : If a foreigner, who resides in the country 
by its consent, commits a public offence, is he 
subject to be cut down, maltreated, imprisoned, 
or put to death by violence, wdthout accusation 
made, trial had, and judgment of an established 
tribunal following the regular forms of judicial 
procedure ? If any rule in the administration 
of justice is to be omitted or discarded in his 
case, what rule is to be ? If one rule may be 
laid aside in his case, another rule may be laid 



246 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



aside, and all rules may be so treated. In such 
instances a rule of evidence may be set aside in 
one case, a rule of pleading in another. The 
testimony of eye-witnesses may be rejected and 
hearsay adopted, or no evidence at all may be 
received, but simply an inspection of the ac- 
cused, as is often the case in tribunals of Asiatic 
countries where personal caprice and not settled 
rules prevail. That would be to establish a pure, 
simple, undisguised despotism and fyranny with 
respect to them and their class ; and such an ex- 
ercise of power is not permissible under our Con- 
stitution. 

"I utterly dissent from and reject the doctrine 
and opinion of the majority that Congress might 
have directed any Chinese laborer, found within 
the United States without a certificate of resi- 
dence to be removed out of the country by 
executive officers, without judicial trial or ex- 
amination, just as it might have autliorized such 
officers absolutely to prevent their entrance into 
the country. An arrest for that purpose could 
not be a reasonable seizure of the person within 
the meaning of the fourth article of the amend- 
ment to the Constitution. It would be brutal 



OUE BROTHER IX YELLOTV 



247 



and oppressive. The existence of the power 
thus stated is only consistent witli the admis- 
sion tliat the government is one of unlimited 
and despotic power so far as aliens domiciled in 
the country are concerned. According to its 
theorv. CongTess mialit have ordered executive 
officers to take the Chinese laborers to the ocean 
and put them into a boat and set them adrift, or 
might have ordered executive officers to take 
them to the borders of Mexico and turn them 
loose there, and in both, cases withotit any means 
of support; indeed, it miglit have sanctioned 
toward these laborers the most shocking brutal- 
ity conceivable. I utterly repudiate all such 
notions, and reply that brutality, inhttmanity, 
or cruelty are not elements in any procedure 
for the enforcement of any laws of the United 
States. Had the punishment been a fine, or 
anything else than of an infamous cliaracter. it 
might have been imposed withotit an indict- 
ment : but not so i^ow. unless Ave hold that a 
foreio-ner, thouo-h domiciled bv the consent of 
the government of the country, is withdraAvn 
from all the guaranties of dtie process of hiAv 
prescribed by the Constitution when charged 



248 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



with an offence to whicli the grave punishment 
designated is affixed. The punishment is be- 
yond all reason in its severity. It is out of all 
proportion to the alleged offence. It is cruel 
and unusual. As to its cruelty, nothing can 
exceed a forcible deportation from a country of 
one's residence and the breaking up of all the 
relations of friendship, family, and business 
there contracted. 

I will pursue the subject no farther. The 
decision of the court and the sanction it would 
give to legislation depriving resident aliens of 
the guaranties of the Constitution fill me with 
apprehensions. These guaranties are of price- 
less value to every one resident in the country, 
whether citizen or alien. I cannot but regard 
the decision as a blow against constitutional 
liberty when it declares that Congress has the 
right to disregard the guaranties of the Consti- 
tution intended for all men domiciled in the 
country, with the consent of the government, 
in their rights of person and property. 

" How far will this legislation go? The un- 
naturalized citizen feels it to-day; but if Con- 
gress can disregard the guaranties with respect 



OUR BROTHER IN YELLOW 



249 



to any resident of the country, with tlie consent 
of the government, it may disregard the guaran- 
ties witli respect to naturalized citizens. What 
assurance have we that it may not decLare that 
naturalized citizens of a particular country can- 
not remain in the United States after a certain 
day unless they have in their possession a certifi- 
cate that they are of good moral character and 
attached to the principles of our Constitution, 
which certificate they must obtain from a collec- 
tor of internal revenue, upon the testimony of at 
least one competent witness of a nationality 
to be designated by the government ? What 
answer could the naturalized citizen in that 
case make which cannot be urged in behalf 
of the poor and despised Chinese laborers of 
to-day ? " 

This must make a very interesting question 
to some who have been very ardent in their per- 
secution of the Chinese. When once we g-et 

o 

into the habit of violating our national pledges, 
who can tell where we will stop? Whose turn 
shall come next — the Italian? the German? or 
the Irish ? A crusade bora of religious or polit- 
ical prejudice may make the position of any 



250 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



class unsafe at any time, when once we have en- 
tered on the discord and chaos of a career of in- 
justice. Theodore Parker well says, " Justice 
is the key-note of the world, and all else is ever 
out of tune," And John Boyle O'Reilly truly 
sings, with the same thought in mind, — 

"Wherever a principle dies — 
Nay, principles never die! 
But wherever a ruler lies, 
And a people share the lie ; 

Where right is crushed by force, 
And manhood is stricken dead — 

There dwelleth the ancient curse, 
And the blood on the earth is red ! " 

One of the most deplorable features of the 
whole matter, aside from the direct dishonor of 
such action, is that no intelligent man believes 
for a moment that such a bill could have been 
passed on its merits ; but that members of 
Congress of both parties permitted themselves 
to be made the tools of an infamous race pre- 
judice, because it was understood that the elec- 
toral vote of the Pacific-coast States, on the last 
presidential election, would be affected by it. 
I was born on the Pacific coast, and lived there 



OTJR BROTHER IN YELLO\Y 



251 



for thirty years, was there through the riots of 
six and seven years ago ; and I say deliberately 
that there was no just cause for the cruel per- 
secution the Chinese received. It was not a 
question of low wages through Chinese compe- 
tition ; for during those 3'ears the highest wages 
paid to workingmen in the civilized world were 
being paid on the Pacific coast. 

Several reasons contributed to that agitation ; 
first of all, that race prejudice which bound 
the black man in slavery and reddened every 
frontier with Indian wars. Another reason was 
that the Chinese as a class do not drink and 
were of no value to the saloon, that infamous 
fortress of political misrule. Again, they had 
no vote, and a disfranchised class always suf- 
fers. Women are not on an equality with men 
before the eyes of the law, even in ]Massachu- 
setts, for the same reason. 

The result of the enforcement of this law will 
be to make America a hermit nation, as Korea 
has been, in relation to the most populous na- 
tion in the world. It is an international con- 
fession that our plighted honor is not worth the 
paper it is written on. 



252 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



What illustrations America is giving the 
world in these days of the light feeling of re- 
sponsibility we have about making good our 
promises ! Only this week it is announced that 
tlie Directory of the World's Fair at Chicago 
have by a large majority voted to open the 
Exposition on Sunday, despite the fact that 
they have already received nearly two millions 
of dollars on the express condition that they 
would not open on Sunday, and after millions 
of dollars have been invested in the enterprise 
from all parts of the civilized world with the 
same understanding. If these men were to so 
act in regard to their private business affairs, 
they would be voted dishonest and unprincipled 
scoundrels by every newspaper and every sane 
man in the land. Why is the same action in a 
representative capacity worthy of more charita- 
ble judgment? And yet this World's Fair Di- 
rectory are only following in the footsteps of 
the Congress and President of the United States, 
who united in the passage of the Chinese Re- 
gistration Act, in open violation of our treaty 
with China. 

It is not flattering to our national pride, but 



OUR BROTHER IN YELLOW 



253 



it is certainly pertinent to tlie situation, to ask, 
in all seriousness, if we are coming to be a na- 
tion of liai's ! 

What cutting reproof is couched in the fol- 
lowing quotations from a Chinese newspaper I 
The Shun pao^ publisliecl in Shanghai, says, 
"What is a treaty of peace but that two coun- 
tries are to be at peace? If they in their 
intercourse with each other act fairly, they are 
at peace ; btit if either should be partial, then 
there Av^ould be unfairness, and unfairness leads 
to a cessation of peace." After quoting the 
eleventh article of the American-Chinese treaty 
of 1844, and the sixth of the Burlingame treaty 
of 1868, it goes on : " From these it may be 
seen that Americans are to treat the Chinese 
in the same manner as the Chinese the Ameri- 
cans. Now, suppose China were to expel the 
Americans, or to prevent their coming ; Avould 
Congress allow it to be done ? It is indeed true 
that the Chinese in America sometimes commit 
crimes ; but if such are to be deported, what of 
the Westerners in China Avho commit crimes ? 
And there have been surely such. In these 
instances in the past we only petitioned their 



254 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



judges to try them ; and though they have gen- 
erally gone on the principle that ' punishment 
ought to be light, where there is any doubt of 
guilt,' and punished the offenders lightly when 
evidence was (to us) convincing, Ave never 
interfered with their judgment. . . . We see 
from this bill that America is bent upon break- 
ing every intercourse with China, and on abro- 
gating the treaties. . . . She thus presumes on 
her might, and ill-treats the Chinese laborers, 
who are but men of toil and without influence 
or power. She has that quality which causes 
men to tyrannize over the weak and to fear the 
* strong. Does she not herself feel degraded? 
... It is known that the Chinese helped to 
open and develop their country, and now they 
who were benefited by their labors have thus 
requited them. Is it in this manner that 
' America is to treat the Chinese according as 
she treats the most favored nation ' ? She in- 
deed can treat us Avith impunity, but as to hoAv 
she is to face the world, and with what counte- 
nance her citizens can quietly reside in our 
country, Ave do not wish to discuss." 

Nothing could be more mortifying and unfor- 



OUE BROTHER IX YELLOW 



255 



tunate than tlie position in wliicli tliis Act puts 
the missionaries of all Christian denominations 
in China. The}' have been preaching to the 
peo^^le Thou shalt not lie ! " and vet our gov- 
ernment deliberately falsifies itself in relation to 
a most solemn treaty. They have been urging 
upon them the transforming power of Christian 
faith ; and now the land from which the mission- 
aries come treats the Chinese in a way aptly 
described by Congressman Hitt as a revival 
of the darkest features of the darkest ages in 
the history of man." 

This legislation does not represent Christian- 
ity, and it does not fairly represent the average 
citizenship of this countrj^ It represents the 
narrow-minded and vicious elements of the Pa- 
cific-coast population, who are given power to 
work this disgrace because of the shameless 
cowardice of political leaders in all parties. 

It is surely a time when Christians and pa- 
triots who value the honor of their countr}^ 
should speak out, and let it be known that 
there is another current of public sentiment in 
this country — a current that is not swayed by 
the beer-saloon or the " sand-lot." The out- 



256 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



spoken indignation of Cliristians tln^oughout the 
country will arouse such a ground-swell of pub- 
lic sentiment that Congress will be compelled 
to repeal this infamous law. In no other way 
can the work of our missionaries, accomplished 
through many long and weary years, be saved 
from disaster, our commerce Avith China pre- 
served from annihilation, and our good name 
protected from ineffaceable shame. 

Let every Christian be counted for justice 
toward " Our Brother in Yellow " ! 



XIV 



THE PROBLEM OF MAN-FLIGHT 

*' They that wait u]}on the Lord shall renew their streDgth ; 
they shall mount up with wings as .eagles." — Isa. xl. 31. 

A FEW weeks ago the postman laid upon my 
table a little volume entitled " The Prob- 
lem of Man-flight." I opened it curiously, and 
found it to be a brief summary of the efforts of 
mankind in aerial navigation. As I looked it 
over, I thought of all the checkered career 
of the persistent effort of man, by aid of bal- 
loon and flying-machine, to navigate the air. I 
thought of John Miiller and his artificial eagle ; 
of the war balloons in the siege of Paris ; of the 
parachutes and the silly victims of the count}^ 
fairs ; of Darius Green and his flying-machine ; 
of all the hodge-podge of wise and unwise - 
efforts of our race to imitate the winged crea- 
tures of the air. But as I pondered my medi- 
257 



258 



THE HOXEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



tation took a more serious mood, and I said to 
myself, After all, this desire to fly must be a 
very deep and permanent characteristic of the 
soul. No amount of failure is able to perma- 
nently put it down or disappoint it. And, 
whatever may be the future success of the 
navigation of the air by the human body, there 
can be no doubt that a much more important 
flight of the soul is possible to us every one. 

We have in this noble passage of Isaiah the 
very simple conditions by Avhich the soul may 
obtain wings and mount up to a noble career. 
If there is in your heart a sense of revolt 
against narrow limitations, and a longing for 
wider vision and nobler achievement, let us 
study sincerely the conditions of a buoyant, 
soaring life ; for we may be sure that no great 
life will ever result from anything less than 
honest preparation for it. So much of any 
great, successful achievement is hidden away 
out of sight, that many people, who envy the 
triumph of great souls and covet their success, 
do not dream of the hard toil, the tremendous 
self-denial, and the supreme devotion out of 
which the victory which they covet Avas born. 



THE PROBLEM OF MAX-FLIGHT 



259 



How few people, seeing the splendid ocean 
steamer sailing out of New York Harbor, tliink 
of the great coal-bins down underneath the 
water in the ship's heart, and tlie scores of 
sweating; workers feedino- its hidden fires, from 
which comes its splendid speed. On the City 
of Paris there are sixty firemen, who feed the 
fiery maws of the forty-five furnaces that create 
steam in nine boilers. Fifty coal-passers shovel 
fuel from the bunkers to the furnace door, 
where the firemen toss it in. And there is 
somethino' more than the mere shovellino- of 
coal in firing : the stoker must know how to 
put on the coals so that they Avill not burn too 
quickly nor deaden the fire : and he must know 
hoAv to stir or poke the fire so as to get all tlie 
heat out of the coal. These grimy workers, 
hidden aAvay out of sight in the ship's hold, 
shovel into the furnaces fifteen tons of coal 
every hour, or three hundred and sixty tons a 
day. And yet many people cross the ocean 
Avithout thinking of that little Avorld under- 
neath them, whose toilers, by their unresting 
activity, render it possible for the ship to make 
the passage in a single week. 



260 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Let this lead us to tliink how important it is 
that we wisely feed the fires of the soul, that 
it may make rapid and glorious flights across 
life's stormy sea. 

The first great condition that is laid down 
for us is that of waiting on the Lord. They 
that wait on the Lord shall fly. He that prays 
in secret is rewarded openly. Joseph's prayers 
in the dungeon in Egypt were rewarded on its 
throne. Daniel and his friends, praying in 
their secret chamber together, found reward in 
wide opportunity for influence and blessing. 
There is no kind of prayer needed so much in 
our age as secret prayer. There is no art that 
is in such dang-er of being lost as the art of 

CD O 

meditation. This nervous, restless, inventive 
time of ours, with its rapid travel, its noise and 
bustle, threatens to rob men of the old habit 
of solitary meditation and communion with 
their own souls and with God. Yet nothing 
can take the place of that sincere, reverent 
waiting upon the Lord. David said that when 
he was in trouble the Lord would hide him in 
His pavilion, in the secret of His tabernacle, 
and. would shut him in from the strife of 



THE PROBLEM OF MAN-FLIGHT 261 



tongues ; and so you and I need, every one of 
us, daily to have some time when we are shut 
in with God and protected, for a while at least, 
from the strife of tongues. Father Ryan's old 
poem about the valley of silence tells it most 
helpfully, — 

" I walk down the valley of silence, 

Down the dim, voiceless valley alone; 

And I hear not the fall of a footstep 
Around me, save God's and my own; 

And the hush of my heart is as holy 
As hovers where angels have flown. 

Long ago I was weary of voices 

Whose music my heart could not win ; 

Long ago I was weary of noises 
That fretted my soul with their din ; 

Long ago I was weary of places 

Where I met but the human and sin. 

I walked through the world with the worldly, 
Yet I craved what the Avorld never gave; 

And I said, ' In the world each ideal 
That shines like a star on life's wave 

Is tossed on the shores of the real, 
And sleeps like a dream in a grave.' 

And still did I pine for the perfect. 

And still found the false with the true ; 

And sought 'mid the human for heaven. 
But caught a mere glimpse of its blue; 



262 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



And I wept when the clouds of the mortal 
Veiled even that glimpse from my view. 

And I toiled on, heart-tired of the human, 
And I mourned 'mid the mazes of men; 

Till I knelt, long ago, at an altar, 

And heard a Voice call me ; since then 

I walk down the valley of silence, 
That lies far beyond mortal ken. 

Do you ask what I find in the valley ? 

'Tis my trysting-place with the Divine; 
Where I fall at the feet of the Holy, 

And above me a Voice says, ' Be Mine.' 
And there comes from the depths of my spirit 

An echo, — ' My heart shall be Thine.' 

Do you ask how I live in the valley ? 

I weep, and I dream, and I pray; 
But my tears are as sweet as the dewdrops 

That fall on the roses in May; 
And my prayer, like a perfume from censer, 

Ascendeth to God night and day. 

In the hush of the valley of silence 
I dream all the songs that I sing; 

And the music floats down the dim valley 
Till each finds a word for a wing: 

That to men, like the dove of the deluge, 
The message of peace they may bring. 

But far on the deep there are billows 
That never shall break on the beach; 



THE PROBLEM OF MAN-FLIGHT 



263 



And I have heard songs in the silence 
That never shall float into speech ; 

And I have had dreams in the valley 
Too lofty for language to reach; 

And I have had thoughts in the valley, — 
Ah, me! how my spirit was stirred, — 

They wear holy veils on their faces, 
Their footsteps can scarcely be heard ; 

They pass through the valley like virgins, 
Too pure for the touch of a word. 

Do you ask me the place of the valley, 
Ye hearts that are harassed by care ? 

It lieth afar between mountains ; 
And God and His angels are there. 

And one is the dark Mount of Sorrow, 
And one the bright Mountain of Prayer." 

Now let us study the character of this flight 
that is promised to the reverent, waiting soul 
whose trust is in God. "With wings as 
eagles " is the promise. Well, we know some- 
thing about that. If they are like eagles' 
wings we know they must be wings of eager 
purpose. This is not the kind of wings the 
Psalmist was praying for wdien, all worn out 
and disheartened, he prayed, " Oh, that T had 
wings like a dove ! for then I would fly away, 
and be at rest." He wanted wings with which 



264 



THE HONEYCOMBS OE LIEE 



to dodge duty : Avings to escape life's work. 
But the Avings that are promised to the waiting 
soul are of a very different character — they are 
wings of purpose. 

One of the greatest causes of failure among 
people who set out to make the Christian flight 
is that they are dominated by no great, worthy 
purpose. All their plans are little and petty. 
And a man with onh* insignificant purposes and 
motives cannot help being a bore to save his 
life. On the other hand, a great purpose will 
ennoble and dignify the smallest means, and 
make wings out of unexpected material. An 
English preacher was once talking to his con- 
gregation about the heathen, and how great was 
their need of the Gospel. In the congregation 
was one little boy who became greatly inter- 
ested. He went home and told his mother that 
he must give something to help buy Bibles for 
the heathen. But he and his mother were very 
poor, and at first he was quite puzzled to know 
how to raise the money. Finally he hit upon a 
plan. The people of England use rubbing- 
stones, or door-stones as they are called, for 
polishing their hearths and scouring their 



THE PROBLEM OF MAN-FLIGHT 265 



wooden floors. These stones are bits of marble 
or freestone begged from the stone-cutters or 
marble- workers; and it is quite common to see 
a donkey with a pair of panniers or baskets 
across its back, loaded with door-stones, whicli 
its boy-driver is selling. Now, this little boy 
whose missionary enthusiasm had been aroused 
had a donkey named Neddy. He thought it 
would be nice to have Neddy help in the good 
work. So he loaded him with stones, and went 
around calling as loud as he could cr}^, " Door- 
stones, door-stones ! Do you want any door- 
stones ? " And before long he had raised three 
pounds, or about fifteen dollars. So, one day, 
the minister heard a knock at his door, and, 
opening it, there stood the little boy, holding 
out a package, saying, — 

" Please, sir, send this to the heathen." 

" But, my little friend, I must have a name 
to acknowledge it to." 

The little boy . hesitated, as if he did not 
understand. 

"You must tell me your name," repeated the 
minister; "that we may know who gave the 
money." 



266 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



" Oh, well, then, sir, please put it down to 
Neddy and n'le. That will do, won't it, sir ? " 

So even a donkey's long ears may be changed 
into wings, if there be a sufficiently noble pur- 
pose at heart. 

Nothing can withstand a great purpose. 

A writer in an electrical journal proposed 
to measure thought by means of the heat devel- 
oped within the brain, acting upon the thermo- 
pile. The proposition was received in some 
quarters with considerable scepticism ; but, like 
many other seemingly impossible things, it has 
been accomplished. Not long ago a celebrated 
electrician stated that he could " think a hole 
through an inch board ; " and by connecting an 
inch drill so that it could be actuated by the 
electric current produced by the concentration 
of his thought, he actually did it. If a man by 
the aid of an electric current, harnessed by his 
own hands, can think a hole through a solid 
timber, what can he not do when his purpose is 
supported and sustained by the power of the 
Holy Spirit? 

Again, the wings of the eagle are wings of 
aspiring faith and exultant hope. He who 



THE PEOBLE^I OF MAN-FLIGHT 



267 



waits upon the Lord does not find himself 
becalmed on waveless seas, but mounts up 
where heavenly trade-winds Ijlow. 

Dr. A. J. Lvman tells how he was once travel- 
liug on a steamer on Lake Superior. Avheu he saw 
a wonderful sight. There ^^■as no wind on the 
water: it lay bright and Avide without a ripple. 
Glancing up at the top of the tall :-moke-stack 
he expected to see the issuing Yolume of smoke 
drifting far astern through tlie moveless air ; but, 
to his Du^eat astonishment, he saw the o-reat 
black coil of smoke cut off flat at the top of the 
srnoke-stack. evidently by a powerful wind, but 
carried tOAvard the bows in the A'ery direction 
thev were g'oincf'. and streamino- awav throuo^h 
the heavens ahead of the steamer f''>r miles. 
He turned to the captain, near whom he was 
standing, and said. "Captain, am I dreaming? 
Look there I'' He looked, and said. - Xo. you 
are not dreaming. Perhaps half a dozen times 
in my thirty years on these lakes I have seen 
tliat occurrence. Fifty feet above our heads 
half a o^ale of wind is blowing, and blowino- in 
the same direction we are going, and twice as 
fast, though to look at the water you would 



268 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



say there was not a breath. That wind is from 
the upper currents of the atmosphere. We are 
going twelve knots, and that wind is going 
thirty." 

That which happens so rarely to a lake 
steamer is the thing which may be well known 
to him who is strong in the faith. The soul 
that waits upon the Lord, and mounts up with 
wings as eagles, enters into the domain of the 
heavenly trade-winds, where all things work 
together for good to them that love God. 

The more we come to know of the grandeur 
of the universe, the loftier will be our flights of 
faith and hope. 

Not long ago Sir Robert Ball, the astronomer, 
said in a lecture, that a telegraphic message 
would go seven times around the earth in a sec- 
ond ; and if a telegraphic message could be sent 
to the moon, it would reach its destination in a 
little more than a second. It would take some- 
thing like eight minutes to arrive, at the sun ; 
but to reach the nearest stars, travelling at the 
tremendous pace of one hundred and eighty 
thousand miles a second, it would take three 
long years to accomplish the journey ; and there 



THE PPtOBLE:^! OF MAX-FLIGHT 



269 



are stars so remote that if the news of the 
victory of Wellington at Waterloo had been 
flashed to them in 1815 on the celestial tele- 
graph system, it would not have reached them 
yet. And back of them are stars yet so 
much farther remote, that if, when William 
the Conqueror landed in England, eight hun- 
dred and twenty-eight years ago, the news of 
his conquest had been despatched to them, the 
signals flying over the wire at a pace which 
would carry them seven times around the earth 
in a second of time, that news would not 
yet have reached them : and back of them, in 
the great depths of space, there are stars so 
far away that if the glad tidings of the angels' 
songs to the shepherds in Bethlehem, nearly 
nineteen centuries ago, had been telegraphed 
through the universe at the pace of a hundred 
and eighty thousand miles a second, the music 
of redemption's song would still be on the 
wing. 

How our hearts bound within us as we come 
to realize that He who holds all tliese worlds in 
His hands is our Father and our Friend! Well 
does the Psalmist say, Day unto day titter- 



270 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



eth speecli, and night unto night showeth 
knowledge." 

A very interesting little story has been going 
the rounds of the press recently, how for a 
number of years a pair of storks built their 
nest annually in tlie park of an old castle in 
Berlin. Finally, one of the servants placed a 
ring marked with the date and name of the 
place on the male bird, in order to be certain 
that the same bird returned each year. This 
spring the stork came back to its customary 
place, the bearer of two rings. The second one 
bore the inscription, " India sends greetings to 
Germany." Well, that is very interesting; but 
what is that to the fact that heaven sends its 
greeting to earth with every morning sunbeam, 
and over the telegraph wire of faith to every 
prayerful soul ? 

The soul that enters into these high fellow- 
ships and soars out in these wide realms is able 
to sing with the poet, — 

"Never the ocean breathed in sleep 
A sigh however lone, 
But somewhere broke in music deep 
Upon some waiting shore; 



THE PROBLEM OF MAX-ELIGHT 



271 



And never a throb of heat and light 

Of the Sim's great heart is lost; 

Through cycles of chaos beating on, 

In trackless spaces crossed, 

Bound for ages of icy night 

In the keep of the dungeon mine, 

From its prison of cold and darkness fast, 

The hoarded force shall burst and shine 

With the sun's own fire at last. 



^^'ever a throb of love and light 

From the heart of God e'er came, — 

Though the night of wrong be cruel and long, — 

But shall kindle in deathless flame ; 

And the thought He has set to music. 

Though the tempest of hate be strong, 

Some time, through the strife on the shores of life. 

Shall echo in living song!" 



John never said anything truer than when he 
deckred, "This is the victory tliat overcometh 
the world, eA'en our faith.*' For that is the 
only real conquest we get over the world. A 
man may be able to make steam and electricitv 
do his bidding, and yet be himself their slave, 
and only have added to the burdens which 
press down his weary shoulders. As one well 
says, Steam and electricity are our masters, 
not we theirs. We are like hands in some 



272 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



great factory — the faster the wheels revolve, 
the more unremitting and exhausting is our 
work to keep up with them." When the 
seventy disciples came back to Christ, and told 
Him of their success, and were especially jubi- 
lant because the devils were subject to them, 
Jesus replied that they should rejoice not that 
the devils were subject to them, but rather rejoice 
because their names Avere written in heaven. 
Some one writing about Enoch the other day, 
commented on the fact that one day Enoch was 
missing ; for God had taken him away, we know 
not how. And then, speculating about it, said, 
" It may have been by means of a golden 
chariot drawn by snow-white, winged horses, a 
whirlwind, a blaze of light and glory; or, possi- 
bly, angelic creatures robed in white, with far- 
reaching wings, gently lifted him above the 
earth and its cares, and conveyed him softly to 
the Father's bosom. But, as I read, I said to 
myself, " While you are at it, brother, why not 
suppose that he walked with God until his own 
wings of faith were strong enough to bear his 
weight, and carried him home to heaven ? " 
Again, they that wait upon the Lord mount 



THE PROBLEM OF MAN-FLIGHT 



273 



up on wings of triumphant love. Tlie editor of 
the Rams Horn says, God employs no hired 
help." Love is the great omnipotent. In the 
old story, Una leads the lion about with a silken, 
leash. Do you remember the demoniac of 
Gadara ? All the physical force of that pork- 
producing community could do nothing with 
him ; but he was like a lamb at the feet of the 
gentle Christ. A writer in the Outlook, not 
long ago, tells a story which occurred in a 
woman's club, organized in a poor tenement- 
house district in New York city. The purpose 
of this club, like that of clubs organized in tlie 
up-town districts, is social intercourse and en- 
tertainment. And each week the club invites 
before it some musicians, sometimes very famous 
people, who seem to enjoy their opportunity 
quite as much as the hearers enjoy theirs. One 
week, among the musical guests of the club, 
was a tenor with a charming, sympathetic voice. 
His singing had aroused the enthusiasm of his 
hearers to a white heat. He was so touched at 
their appreciation that, noticing that many of 
them were German women, he sat down at the 
organ, touched a few chords, and sang in Ger- 



274 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



man a little ballad, I love lier so." One of the 
members of the club, an elderly woman, seemed 
to be deeply moved by the song, so much so that 
her eyes filled with tears. When the song was 
_ finished, she leaned toward her nearest neigh- 
bor, an intimate friend, and said something in 
German. Her hearer burst out laughing, and 
then called out to the president of the club, 
" She says that is the song her husband always 
sings to her when she gets mad at him." Then 
the woman whose confidence had been revealed 
said, " It is really true. Yen I gets mad to 
Charlie, and vill not get glad mit him, he always 
sits him down and sings me dat song." Wise 
husband ! He had caught the secret of omnipo- 
tence. Jesus in John's Gospel says, " Hence- 
forth I call you not servants . . . but . . . 
friends," and this pleading love it is that gives 
Him such marvellous power. 

Such soaring lives cannot fail of noble achieve- 
ment — achievement which shall not oiAj do 
honor to God and give happiness and glory to 
themselves, but which cannot fail to give help- 
fulness to others. Many of you have just been 
studying in the Sunday-school lessons the story 



THE PROBLEM OF MAX-FLIGHT 



275 



of Joseph. Do yoii remember the words, The 
Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's 
sake " ? And there are multitudes of beautiful 
illustrations not only in the Bible but in our 
common lives that prove the great Christian 
law that God often blesses one man for the sake 
of another. Do you remember that fearful 
storm on the Mediterranean Sea, when captain 
and sailor and soldier were alike discouraged 
and ready to give up in despair? But Paul 
stood in their midst with chained limbs, yet 
with a dauntless Avinged spirit that no chains 
could limit or restrain, and said, with cheerful 
face. There stood bv me this nio-ht the ano^el 
of God. whose I am. and whom I serve, saying. 
Fear not. Paul : . . . lo. God hath given thee 
all them that sail with thee."" 

So I covet for every one of us a lofty spirit, 
a winged soul — not for ourselves alone, but for 
all these brothers and sisters about us whose 
numbed and broken wings appeal to our sym- 
pathy and love. 



XV 



THE PILGEIMAGE OF FAITH 



" Strangers and pilgrims on the earth." — Heb. xi. 13. 



"HETHER we will or not we are all trav- 



T T ellers. " In we are, and on we must." 

We cannot stand still if we would ; and if we 
have caught anything of the true zest of - life, 
we would not if we could. Childhood, youth, 
manhood, age, like the changing hours of the 
day and the procession of the seasons, swing 
us ever onward. Whether we go with all sails 
flying, like some queenly ship, exulting in our 
power, or as a helpless, broken fragment, drift- 
ing with the tide, we are ever floated onward. 

To the real pilgrim this fact of necessary and 
inevitable progress is full of inspiration. To 
the mere time-killer life may be only a dull 
routine ; but to the man who is consciously 
going somewhere, and going there on purpose, 
276 




THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 277 



who has the pilgrim's spirit and courage, life is 
intensely real. To such an one, every day is 
a fresh study from the hand of God. The past 
to him is only a background for the romantic 
and interesting present. 

This attitude , of the pilgrim toward human 
life is the necessary attitude in order to high 
and courageous action. No man can do his 
greatest work without the courage and freedom 
which comes from this largeness of view. One 
may use any sort of a tent during the summer 
days in the mountains, or be satisfied with the 
rudest conveniences in a wayside camp. So to 
the real pilgrim the end is the chief thing, the 
style of travel is insignificant. If one have a 
sublime purpose, like the Pilgrims who came 
over in the Mayflower, the size of the boat or 
the propelling power are of small consequence. 
Grandeur of purpose and intensity of enthusi- 
asm like theirs is a far more powerful motor 
than steam or electricity. Opposition, dis- 
couraging circumstances, sickness, pain — none 
of these things can move from his course or 
seriously hinder him who has the real spirit of 
the pilgrim. 



278 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Not long ago that greatest citizen of the 
civilized world, Mr. Gladstone, called on his 
physician, who is also an oculist, that he might 
have his eyes examined. The physician told 
Mr. Gladstone that a cataract had impaired the 
sight of one eye, and that another cataract was 
forming on the other. The great man reflected 
a moment, and said, " I wish you to remove the 
cataract at once." The physician replied that 
it was not far enough advanced for an opera- 
tion. You do not understand me," answered 
Mr. Gladstone. ''It is the old cataract I wish 
removed. If that is out of the way, I shall 
still have one good eye when the new cataract 
impairs the sight of the other." As the phy- 
sician still hesitated, Mr. Gladstone continued, 
" You still seem not to understand me. I 
want you to perform the operation here and 
now, while I am sitting- in this chair." " But 
it might, not be successful," said the doctor. 
"That is a risk I accept," was the instant reply. 
One cannot fail to see in this incident the 
heroic spirit of the pilgrim Avhich has given 
Mr. Gladstone such victorious strides across the 
course of three generations. 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 279 



Many young men and women who start out 
well in life, and in their early Christian experi- 
ence give great promise of high spiritual de- 
velopment, are later a disappointment both to 
themselves and their friends from the fact that 
they lose the spirit of the pilgrim and settle 
down to be mere ranchers and herders, easily 
contented with the ephemeral pleasures of the 
present. To be content with small achieve- 
ments means perpetual poverty. That noble 
discontent which drove the Israelites out of 
Egypt, drove the Pilgrim Fathers from England 
to Holland, and from Holland to Plymouth 
Rock, is similar to the spiritual discontent 
which drives a man out from the domain of 
vulgar thoughts, makes him revolt against ig- 
noble servitudes, and sends him forth upon an 
upward pilgrimage, ever aspiring and striving 
after better things. 

The possibility of high and glorious life is 
within the reach of every one of us. The 
fault, dear Brutus," said Cassius, "is not in 
our stars, but in ourselves, that Ave are un- 
derlings." And Paul says, "When I Avas a 
child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I 



280 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



thought as a chiki: now that I am become 
a man, I have put away childish things." 
Would to God that that might be truthfully 
said of every one of us ! But how many peo- 
ple throng the churches who, after twenty 
years of experience, still cling with childish 
hands to their bibs and nursing-bottles ! A 
strong Christian life cannot be prodnced with- 
out willingness to endure trial ; without the 
exercise which comes from hardship and exer- 
tion ; without the determination to risk and 
dare and do for the right ; without the inspi- 
ration which comes from the consciousness of 
self-denial in fellowship with Jesus Christ. 
Cliurch membership is not intended to be a 
rocking-chair, where a man, attended by his 
pastor and class-leader, shall be soothed and 
quieted and rocked to and fro, but making 
no advancement and going noAvhere. A rich 
Cliristian experience cannot be obtained ex- 
cept as it comes to the pilgrim who is mak- 
ing daily advancement. No man can acquire 
the experience of a European tour unless he 
makes it. The richest enjoyment of it consists 
of those things that cannot be even planned be- 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 281 



forehand : in those unexpected personal happen- 
ings which unfold to him day by day and hour 
by hour. So God does not liave spiiitual 
graces stored up which He distributes to us 
through some set system of His own. He only 
can bestow these graces of the Spirit upon us 
as in the actual contacts of life we need them. 
Hunger and food are the natural complements 
of each other, and belono- too-ether. It is use- 
less to try to feed a man who has no appetite, 
no zest, no relish for food ; and even the all- 
wise God has not discovered how to bestow the 
graces of the Spirit except in answer to spirit- 
ual huno-er. 

Nothing is so pitiable, so hopeless, as spiritttal 
apathy — a soul that has ceased to be dissatisfied 
with its own sluo-o-ish and useless life. Annie 
Breckett well says. "Go on and make errors, 
and fall and get up again. Only go on. You 
are made to fall over and over again, or yoti 
would never o-ain streno-th. The harder time 
you have, the gladder you ought to be. for yoti 
are getting exercise and experience ; and then 
God would never spend so much trotible in 
trainino' you if vou were not worth the effort. 



282 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Yoli must reall}^ be of considerable value." 
And Lowell sings, — 

" But two ways are offered to our will, — 
Toil, with rare triumph; ease, with safe disgrace, 
Nor deem that acts heroic wait on chance. 

The man's whole life preludes the single deed 
That shall decide if his inheritance 

Be with the sifted few of matchless breed. 

Or with the unmotived herd that only sleep and feed." 

We have a modern invention called the time- 
lock — a combination of clockwork with the 
lock of a vault or safe, which renders it impossi- 
ble for a^iij key to open the door until a certain 
hour. When the door is locked and the clock 
is set for a definite time, until that hour comes 
the banker or merchant is as helpless as any 
burglar or thief ; the safe cannot be opened or 
its contents obtained. There is something like 
that in God's spiritual economy in relation to 
the pilgrims of the faith. Good things are 
stored up for us all along the way of life, but 
on every storehouse of blessing there is the 
time-lock of God's providential care. No man 
can force the door on to-morrow's mercies and 
obtain them for to-day's use. There ought to 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 



283 



be great comfort in this for us : and it onglit to 
reveal to ns the uselessness of worry and anx- 
iety Avhich seem to hover like clouds about the 
horizon of to-morro^v. When to-morrow's dif- 
ficulties are really present, the time-lock on 
God's new mercies shall open the door of His 
love and provision for us. We do not have to 
pass through the floods until they come. Yet 
some people do feel the chill of imaginary floods 
more than the real ones. A clever and cliarm- 
ing old lady once said to a group of girl admir- 
ers gathered for a talk. " My dears, you Avonder 
that nothing ever seems to annoy me. Some 
people, you know, have their trouble three 
times (T used to have) : fu^st in anticipation, 
next in experiencing the reality, and lastly in 
living it all over again. But I have made up 
my mind that to have trouble once is enough. 
Thus I escape two-thirds the AA"orry that I A\"ould 
otherwise have."' The pilgrim need not worry 
about the waters to which he has not yet come. 
When you do come there tlie promise is. - When 
thou passest through the waters. I will be AA'ith 
thee." Daniel's three friends did not find the 
fire slackening when they Avere cast into the 



284 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



furnace. So fierce was it that the men who 
cast them in were destroyed, and yet God's 
time-lock did not fail — for the form of the 
fourth, like unto the Son of man, met them at 
the furnace door ; and not even the smell of 
fire was on their garments. And so the jirom- 
ise is for you, " When thou walkest through the 
fire, thou shalt not be burned." 

One of the greatest of mistakes is to give 
ourselves anxiety because we cannot get a pano- 
ramic view of what the future holds for us. It 
is the very essence of our pilgrimage that we 
walk by faith and not by sight. This world is 
a twilight land at best. - We see through a 
glass darkly. And yet ever and anon God does 
give us glimpses sufficient for our encourage- 
ment and inspiration. As Lucy Larcom sings, — 

" Life comes to us only by glimpses; 

We see it not yet as a whole, 
For the vapor, the cloud, and the shadow 

That over it surging roll ; 
For the dimness of mortal vision, 

That mingles the false with the true; 
Yet its innermost, fathomless meaning 

Is never quite hidden from view. 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 



285 



Life shows us its grandeur by glimpses; 

For what is this wondrous To-day 
But a rift in the mist-muffled vastness 

Of surrounding eternity ? 
One law for this hour and far futures ; 

One light on the distant and near, 
The bliss of the boundless hereafter 

Pulses into the brief moments here. 

The secret of life, — it is giving, 

To minister and to serve ; 
Love's law binds the man to the angel, 

And ruin befalls if we swerve. 
There are breadths of celestial horizons 

Overhanging the commonest way; 
The clod and the star share the glory. 

And to breathe is an ecstasy. 

Life dawns on us, wakes us, by glimpses; 

In heaven there is opened a door, — 
That flash lit up vistas eternal; 

The dead are the living once more ! 
To illumine the scroll of creation. 

One swift, sudden vision sufficed: 
Every riddle of life worth the reading 

Has found its interi^reter — Christ! 

All pilgrims find tlie friendships and fellow- 
ships which they form on their pilgrimage to be 
the chief sources of their joy and strength. 
The rich brotherhood wliich comes to those who 



286 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



share hardships, who bear conitiioii burdens, 
who risk mutual dangers, cau only be appreci- 
ated by those who have experienced them. The 
fellowships which come to the pilgrims of the 
faith are very sweet and precious. He who has 
the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has come to 
walk in harmony w^ith Him, has a vision of the 
brotherhood of humanity which can be acquired 
on no other plane. The true pilgrim of the 
faith recognizes all fellow-travellers as his broth- 
ers. In his address on Democracy, James Rus- 
sell Lowell relates the beautiful and profound 
parable of the Persian poet Jelal-ed-Deeii, who 
tells us, " One knocked at the Beloved's door, 
and a voice from within asked, ' Who is there ? ' 
and he answered, ' It is I.' Then the voice said, 
' This house will not hold thee and me.' And 
the door was not opened. Then went the lover 
into the desert and fasted and prayed in soli- 
tude ; and after a year he returned and knocked 
again at the door, and again the voice asked, 
' Who is there ? ' and he said, ' It is thyself.' 
And the door was opened to him." 

Life's supreme object is to realize love for 
man ; to translate into human action the divine 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 287 



spirit revealed in the words, God so loved the 
world that He gave His Son. If the pilgrim- 
age of life is doing that for yon. then it is 
really bringing yon onward toward heaven. 
Spiirgeon said of an old Pnritan. that heaven 
was in him before he was in heaven. And an 
old Scotchman, who was asked whether he ever 
expected to get to heaven, replied, - Why. man. 
I live tliere I " 

The spirit of the pilgrim is the spirit of 
promptitude. One essential characteristic of 
success must be the doing of everything in its 
place and time. As we pass this way bnt once, 
we cannot afford to delay or to put off to-day's 
duty until to-morrow. Josephine Pollard tells 
of an inn among the mountains of Switzerland 
where tourists are accustomed to stop and re- 
fresh themselves before makino- a oTand ascent. 
In the waiting-room of tliis hotel was a placard 
suspended in ^plain sight, containing in large 
type these three words. Do it now." AVhen 
the innkeeper was asked tlie meaning of this, 
he explained that he was continually bothered 
by tourists asking him when they should make 
this, or that preparation for their mountain 



288 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



tours, and so he had had the placard put up 
that it miglit save hiiu the trouble of answering 
so many questions. That innkeeper was a 
philosopher ; for, no doubt, many a tourist has 
had occasion to thank him for that silent ^ut 
impressive warning against the danger of pro- 
crastination. Do we not need tlie same warn- 
ing ? Hanging at the gateway of the duties 
of every day, of every hour, should be the im- 
pressive, imperative warning, Do it now. The 
word of apology you owe to your wife, or hus- 
band, or friend, or servant, or employer; the 
message of sympathy you are moved to speak or 
write to a broken heart ; the help which your 
hand itches to give to an impoverished brother 
— all these and many other opportunities and 
privileges of life's pilgrimage must be seized 
upon at once, or they are lost. 

To him who enters upon life daily as a pil- 
grimage, and who walks among his fellows in 
the spirit of the democracy of Jesus Christ, 
common life abounds in romantic interest. 
Everything is full of interest to the sympathetic 
and sensitive soul. Mr. Gladwyn sings a little 
song that ought to be especially comforting and 



THE PILGE IMAGE OF FAITH 



289 



refreshing to those who. like myself, spent their 
childish clays among the fields and pastures of 
the country. He says, — 

"All along the wayside is eveiybody's garden I 

There the wild rose blossoms through the summer days ; 
Bounded by field fences, and ever stretching onward, 
It is God's own garden. For it give Him praise. 

'Tis gay with golden-rod; 

There blooming grasses nod. 
And sun-flowers small and yellow turn ever to the sim ; 

Quaint darkey heads are there, 

And daisies wild and fair. 
In ever^^body's garden each flowers the loveliest one! 

All along the wayside is everybody' s garden ! 
Come out and gather posies; the very air is sweet. 
Come out with hearts of gladness, ye big and little 
children. 

Into oui- Father's garden, made for om- strolling feet. 
The flitting butterfly. 
The fragrant winds that sigh. 
The tiny clouds that hover above us in the blue, 
The bird's song high and clear. 
Make heaven draw more near. 
In everybody's garden the world once more is new I " 

And in spite of all sorroAv and wrong and sin, 
our every-day life is everybody's garden to him 
whose heart is sensitive enough to reproduce 
the joy which the good God bestows upon us. 



290 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



No greater mistake can be made than to ima- 
gine that the people with whom we are thrown 
are of such a commonplace kind that the deep 
pathos and romance of life is not revealed in 
them. Notice what commonplace people Jesus 
had to deal with — blind Bartimseus, begging 
beside the road ; the woman with the waterpot 
by the well in Samaria, a vulgar sort of woman 
who had had five husbands and got on with 
none of them ; Simon's mother-in-law, who had a 
fever ; some fishermen who had had bad luck, 
and so on. And yet in every one of these, and 
multitudes of otliers like them, was to Jesus 
Christ a gold-mine of entertainment and inter- 
est and opportunity for rich spiritual develop- 
ment. Our neighbor, the Rev. John W. Chad- 
wick, creates a beautiful aphorism when he 
says, " There is a better thing than realizing 
the ideal ; it is to idealize the real." And 
nothing will do that so Avell as to approach all 
life in a spirit of brotherly sympathy and 
fellowship. 

Old age can have no terror to the genuine 
pilgrim of the faith. I think it is Emerson 
who in his last years sang, — 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 291 



" As the bird trims her to the gale, 

I trim myself to the storm of time. 
I man the rudder, reef the sail, 

Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime, 
Lowly faithful, banish fear, 

Right onward drive unharmed ; 
The port, well worth the cruise, is near, 

And every wave is charmed." 

There is no sorrow in accumulated years to 
such a soul. The historian tells us that when 
Columbus was at last drawing near to the 
shores of America, the waves and the sky 
brought him many indications that he was 
approaching the land. Birds hovered above his 
vessel, and at last alighted on the masts and 
seemed to sing songs of the shore. Branches of 
trees with ripened berries on them were caught 
up from the waves by the wondering and happy 
sailors and eaten with delight. Old age to the 
Christian pilgrim is like that. As he nears the 
heavenly shores rich fruitage from the tree of 
life floats out to him on the welcoming tide. 
Angels of immortal hope hover over him and 
sing strains of heavenly music in his enraptured 
ears. 

To the pilgrim of the faith death is not a 



292 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



stopping-place, a terminus, but only a transfer 
station. A crown of life " is the promise. 
Hear the message given to John: Endure thou 
unto death, and thou shalt receive a crown of 
life. And James saj^s, "Blessed is the man 
that endure th temptation : for when he hath 
been approved, he shall receive the crown of 
life, which the Lord promised to them that love 
him." What a noble reward is this ! It is not 
anything that could appeal to the sluggish or 
selfish soul ; but the reward of a good life here 
is to be a complete and enlarged life hereafter. 
We are to be clothed upon with immortality. 
" For we know that if the earthly house of our 
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building 
from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, 
in the heavens." We leave a pilgrim's tent to 
go to a heavenly mansion. " Life and thought," 
says the poet, of the translated pilgrim, — 

" have gone away, side by side, 
Leaving doors and vv^indows wide; 
Careless tenants they! " 

And they can well afford to be careless, for glori- 
ous provision has been made for them beyond. 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 293 



We do not know a great deal about tlie arclii- 
tecture of the homes to which we are going, 
but there are some things we know we will not 
need. They will need no storm windows to 
keep out the storms in winter, no bolts and 
bars against burglars, no screens against mos- 
quitoes in the summer, and no cedar closets to 
hide precious raiment from the moths. Ah, 
who can imamne an architecture o-rand enouo-li 
for a free soul that has passed forever beyond 
the reach of fear or care or sorrow? What 
broad windows, what lofty domes, what musical 
arches, what splendor of beauty, shall there 
greet us we do not know. Eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, the glories which God has re- 
served for His children. 

And what treasures await us at the end of 
our pilgrimage ! Sometimes the traveller in 
foreign lands gathers many a rare painting, 
and beautiful pieces of sculpture and precious 
curios, and ships them across the sea, that, after 
a while, when his journeys are over, he may 
come back and enjoy them all at home. So the 
true pilgrim of the faith is constantly sending 
treasures across to the heavenly land. Every 



294 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



cup of cold water given in the name of the dis- 
ciple, every deed of self-denying love, is stored 
in yonder heavenly mansion. And how many 
priceless treasures in the loved ones whom God 
has given us along life's pilgrimage have taken 
passage thitherward and await our coming. 
How splendid the home-coming will be when 
we strike camp for the last time and make our 
triumphant entry into the city of God ! 

" Foursquare it lies, with walls of gleaming pearl, 

And gates that are not shut at all by day; 
There evermore their wings the storm-winds furl. 

And night falls not upon the shining way 
Up which, by twos and threes, and in great throngs, 

The happy people tread, whose mortal road 
Led straight to that fair home of endless songs, 

The city, beautiful and vast, of God. 

Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, the joy. 
The light, the bloom of that sweet dwelling-place; 

Where praise is aye the rapturous employ 
Of those who there behold God's loving face. 

Here, fretted by so many a tedious care. 
And bowed by burdens on the weary road, 

We cannot dream of all the glory there. 
In that bright city, beautiful, of God. 

There some have waited for our coming long. 
Blown thither on the mystic tide of death; 



THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 



295 



They catcli some fragments of our broken song, 
The while the eternal years are as a breath. 

There we shall go one gladsome day of days, 
And drop forever every cumbering load, 

And we shall view, undimmed by earth's low haze. 
The city, beautiful and vast, of God. 

In that great city we shall see the King, 

And tell Him how He took us by the hand, 
And let us, in our weakness, drag and cling 

As children when they do not understand. 
Yet with the mother walk as night comes on. 

And wish that home was on some shorter road. 
Oh, with what pleasure we shall look upon 

Oui" Saviour in the city of our God ! " 



XVI 



THE WELL-DIGGERS IK THE VALLEY 
OF BACA 

*' Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well." 
— Psalms Ixxxiv. 6. 

BISHOP WILLIAM TAYLOR, the Grand 
Old Man " of modern missions, is called 
the " well-digger " by tlie native tribes in many 
parts of Africa, because of his habit of digging 
wells with his own hands wherever he goes, se- 
curhig that way not only his own comfort, but 
giving blessing to others who come to the way- 
side wells and slake their thirst long after the 
busy leader of the Lord's frontier hosts has 
passed on to bless other lands. 

Now, our text assures us that the good bishop 
is only a type of what occurs in higher and 
more spiritual ways wherever God's pilgrims 
travel. Though they pass through the valley 
296 



THE WELL-DIGGERS OF BACA 297 



of Baca, or the land where only " tear shrubs " 
grow, they by their presence and labor produce 
wells of comfort in the midst of desolation. 
There could not be a more striking illustra- 
tion of the blessing of true souls who live 
in communion wdth God than the figure used 
here. 

It is hard for us to appreciate it in well- 
watered New England, even when we are as- 
sured that our Boston water supply is just now 
threatened by the long season of dry weather ; 
but in a land where rains seldom fall a well is 
a matter about which wars might easily arise 
between neighboring nations. 

We are told that some years since the Czar 
of Russia had determined upon the extension 
of his empire eastward from the Caspian. 
" Sire, it is impossible," said his engineers. 
"Between the Salt Sea and Bokhara lies a 
desert of death. It is white with the bones of 
dromedaries. Man may not cross it and live." 
"Fill it with water," said the Czar. And 
with the derrick and the drill the underlying 
rock was pierced. Forthwith rose the living 
streams ; and now across the wilderness of 



298 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

dust is threaded upon a necklace of steel the 
emerald oases, beautiful with the almond and 
olcaudor. 

It was liardly to he wondered at that the 
Hebrew multitudes tliought themselves scarcely 
saved when they emerged from the sea only to 
plunge into the great and teii-ible wilderness of 
Arabia, " where no water is." But the word 
of Jehovah made the rocks to give fortli foun- 
tains ; and whei'ever the cloudy pilkir stopped 
tlie wilderness became a well. 

Out (jR the high table-lands, between the Mis- 
souii and the liocky Mountains, a station on 
one of the Pacific I'ailways is named Wells, be- 
cause in the midst of the dry plain the raib'oad 
company lias bored down into the heart of the 
earth, and tapped hidden streams that flow from 
the mountain reservoirs hundreds of miles away. 

Tlie great theme we are to study, then, is 
this, that there is no valley of liardship or trial 
so severe }mt tljat by faith and eaiTiest exertion 
we may make it fertile ; that if we go deep 
enough iiito the sands of trouble, and find 
God's purpose for us, we sliall find wells of liv- 
ing water to refresh our ihij'sty souls. 



THE WELL-DIGGERS OF BACA 299 



Such wells may be found by those who feel 
themselves narrowed and pinched in their busi- 
ness relations by the present pressure of hard 
times. Two men were coming out of church 
after listening to a sermon on God's interest in 
the least affairs of daily life. Both were Chris- 
tians, and naturally fell to speaking about the 
thought of the morning. " It is difficult for me 
to believe," said one, " that the great God really 
cares anything about the details of my busi- 
ness." "Oh," responded the other, "but 
that's just the comfort I find in my religion." 
Surely no one, be his cares few or many, lias 
grasped the real blessing of religion until he 
realizes that the things which are of moment to 
him are of equal concern to the Father of us all. 
Many business men in these trying days are 
finding out for the first time what God's love 
and care really mean. A St. Louis merchant 
in a private letter says, " Sometimes of late it 
has seemed to me that the only thing left was a 
consciousness of duty done to the best of my 
ability and a reliance upon the promises." 

Much of business life is permeated Avith such 
a spirit of selfishness and greed, that hard times 



300 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



would be a blessing in disguise if it brought to 
business men more of a feeling of sympathy 
and brotherhood in their trouble. A suggestive 
scene occurred in the New York Stock Ex- 
change the other day, as reported by the New 
York Tribune. In the midst of the babel of 
voices came the rapping of the chairman's 
gavel, the prelude to the announcement of a 
failure. "The bears," we read, " rushed toward 
the rostrum with a shout of exultation to hear 
what the chairman had to say, and to learn the 
name of the firm that was in trouble." Think 
of it ! ''a shout of exultation " because a firm 
had failed. Surely the actors in such a stock 
market are well named " bulls " and " bears." 
As one reads of such an occurrence, one can 
almost see the sharp horns piercing the scream- 
ing victim, or the fierce claws as they tear the 
lacerated flesh. A valley of Baca in the busi- 
ness world would be a cause for national thanks- 
giving, if there might come out of it some re- 
demption from scenes like that. 

But any business man who by his perplexities 
is led to a clearer view of the fatherhood of God 
and a tenderer vision of the brotherhood of 



THE WELL-DIGGERS OF BACA 301 



man, will make a well of peace for himself and 
others. 

I read the other day the story of a gardener. 
The grapes in his vineyard were just beginning 
to ripen. He wanted to find a few bunches for 
a friend who Avas visiting him. They went out 
together. " See here," the friend said, " this 
bunch hangs in the sunshine ; it must be riper 
than those which are in the shade." He plucked 
it, put a grape in his mouth, made a wry face, 
and when tlie gardener asked what was the 
matter, replied, "Those grapes were well col- 
ored ; they looked as if they were ripe ; but I 
find on tasting them that they are hard and sour. 
We won't get any fruit here that is fit to eat 
to-day." " Wait a moment," said the gar- 
dener. And going to a vine that looked as if 
it had nothing on it except leaves, he lifted 
a drooping branch, and picked from it a bunch 
that had grown in the shade. It liad not the 
sun-tint upon its berries which attracted his 
friend in the bunch he had gathered, but a 
delicate yellowish color which told of mellow- 
ness and sweetness. The gardener handed it to 
him. He tasted it and said, Wh}^, that is 



302 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



splendid! How did it ripen so, away down 
there under the leaves ? " " Ah," said the 
gardener, " I cannot explain the how and why, 
but I have learned by long experience in 
vineyards and orchards that if you want to 
find the earliest, the juiciest, and the sweetest 
fruit, you must look for it under the leaves." 
It is not the direct rays of the sun, but those 
rays softened and mellowed by passing through 
the foliage that gives us the best grapes and 
peaches. The man who picked all the leaves 
from his trees in order to facilitate the ripening 
of his fruit, found it scorched and shrivelled by 
the sunshine. The Lord's Avay is to blend the 
sunshine and shade. Too much of either is 
disastrous. In a well-cultivated vineyard or 
orchard He will see to it that a due proportion 
is preserved. And so He will in our lives if 
we trust in Him and obey Him and try to 
serve Him. Did you ever ponder that state- 
ment of the bride in Canticles ii. 3, I sat 
down under his shadow with great delight, and 
his fruit was sweet to my taste " ? She knew 
where to find the ripest apples. She did not 
stand out in the sunshine, but went under the 



THE WELL-DIG GEE S OF BACA 303 



tree. There in the shade she enjoyed the fruit 
that was sweetened through the leaves. I 
have read of an aged pauper who was found at 
the county infirmary with a Bible in his lap, 
reading it slowly through his spectacles, keep- 
ing the place with one of his fingers, which 
moved under the lines. When asked, " What 
are you doing, old man ? " he looked np with 
the smile of an angel on his wrinkled face, 
and said, " Oh, sir, I am sitting under His 
shadow with great delight, and His fruit is 
sweet to my taste." He never appreciated the 
preciousness of the promises in his days of 
health and prosperity as he did when over- 
shadowed by weakness, poverty, and pain. The 
Psalmist says, " He that dwelleth in the secret 
place of the most High shall abide under the 
shadow of the Almighty." He shall be pro- 
tected from the sunshine, because God loves 
him and wants to ripen his character. 

It is in the midst of toil's severe testino^ that 
the sweetest flowers of our civilization bloom. 
The great pictures of our own time prove this. 
The one the whole world has been struQ^crlincr 
after, "The Angelus," is, so small a canvas 



304 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



one might carry it in a valise, and yet the heart 
of mankind has taken it up and glorified it. 
Why? Because it speaks to us of the rich 
veins of gold which lie in common mortals, the 
kind of people who wear blue denims and 
calico, and dig potatoes in common fields. If 
the two worshipful figures in ''The Angelus 
had represented some statesman like Gladstone 
and some poetess like Mrs. Browning, it would 
have been the curiosity of the hour and nothing 
more ; but now it stands for Imnianity. 

In the most toilworn life of the weariest 
traveller through the valley of Baca there are 
wells of reverence, of worship, of communion 
with God. 

You may see this great truth illustrated 
everywhere. Unusual interest was excited re- 
cently in New York city by the passing from 
North River via Washington Square, and, with 
a rest under the Washington Arch, to Broad- 
way, and down that thoroughfare to the Penn- 
sylvania railroad ferry, of the " Columbian 
Liberty Bell " on its way to the World's Fair. 
The bell, weighing thirteen thousand pounds, 
was not easy to move. It took twenty-five 



THE WELL-DIGGEHS OF BACA 



305 



men two hours to load it upon the trucks, and 
six stalwart horses to draw it. Six grenadier 
policemen guarded the truck. Mr. Meneely, 
the founder of the bell, and some of his family, 
followed in a carriage; and interested crowds 
thronged the way as the bell, draped in the 
national flag, held its slow course to the 
landing, to be taken by rail through Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburg, etc., 
to Chicago. The bell, made up of intrinsi- 
cally precious, and sentimentally more pre- 
cious, materials from our own and other lands, 
will bear a notable part in coming events here 
and abroad. Its voice is already bespoken for 
celebrating many weighty historical events 
closely bearing on the progress of human free- 
dom. Wliy did it wake this enthusiasm as it 
passed along the streets of the great metropo- 
lis? Because it spoke to their hearts a story 
of sacrifice, of volunteers who, on the march, 
in camp, on battle-field, in hospitals, and in a 
hundred ways, suffered and endured and died 
that out of their " valley of Baca " these bells 
might forever peal the music of liberty. 

Sickness, or personal affliction, is a valley of 



306 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Baca which may be, and often is, fertile because 
of the wells dug by trusting hands. 

Fanny Crosby, the blind poetess, who has 
written so many inspiring hymns, addressed the 
late Northfield (Mass.) meeting as follows : — 

" Dear friends, I am here once more in the beautiful 
village of Northfield, which sleeps so tranquilly among the 
mountains. God's peace hovers over this place and in this 
sacred house. Year by year, as they go by, seems to bind 
me more closely to this place. It is my home, and the ties 
of friendship grow stronger and stronger. I thought to- 
day how grand it will be when we meet in that land where 
we need never part ! Mr. and Mrs. Baker and I do not 
regret that we cannot see. We have our mind, our intel- 
lect. We can picture every face ; and, what is more, we 
have our faith centred in the ' Rock of Ages.' Do we 
regret it ? No. When we enter the pearly gates God's 
face will be the first on which we gaze. Oh, how small the 
sorrow of this world as compared with the joy of that 
meeting !" 

She then closed with the following original 
poem : — 

' Some day my earthly house will fall, 

I cannot tell how soon 'twill be ; 
But this I know, — my All in All 

Has now in heaven a place for me, 
And I shall see Him face to face. 
And tell the story, — saved by grace. 



THE "WELL-DIGGERS OF BACA 307 

Some day the silver cord will break, 
And I no more as now shall sing; 

But, oh, the joy when I shall wake 
Within the palace of the King ! 

And I shall see Him face to face. 

And tell the story, — saved by grace. 

Some day, when fades the golden sun 

Beneath the hazy-tinted west, 
My blessed Lord shall say, ' Well done,' 

And I shall enter into rest ; 
And I shall see Him face to face. 
And tell the story, — saved by grace. 

Some day ! till then I'll watch and wait, 
My lamp all trimmed and burning bright, 

That when the Saviour opes the gate 
My soul to Him may wing its flight, 

And I shall see Him face to face. 

And tell the story, — saved by grace." 

Old age is a valley of Baca which we can 
make largely what w^e please. Two women of 
middle age, but in the full plenitude of health 
and strength, sat Avatching the twilight of a 
summer evening creep over the landscape, when 
one of them suddenly inquired, " What do you 
dread most in connection with old age ? " A 
thoughtful pause, and then came the reply, 
" Not the failure of sight or hearing, not the 



308 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



paralysis of limbs or memory, but the loss of 
love. I can imagine nothing more dreadful 
than to be left alone in the world with no one 
to esjDecially care for me." The words embody 
a common sentiment of dread among people 
who are approaching the sunset slopes of life; 
but it is more a matter of personal control than 
we are apt to think Avhether or no we have a 
loveless old age. We have seen multitudes of 
elderly people, some of 'them the sole survivors 
of a large family, helpless and dependent, it 
may be, whose presence, nevertheless, was a 
delight in the household. Providence may shut 
the door of heaven between ourselves and our 
kindred ; but b}^ our own volition we close our 
hearts and narrow our lives, and thereby pre- 
pare for loss of love in old age. 

And then we must not forget that we are only 
pilgrims in the valley of Baca. We do not live 
there — we are only passing through. We dig 
our wells for a day and a night, and go on and 
leave them ; but the fresh strength and courage 
we carry with us. 

I was talking the other day with a man who 
superintended the putting up of a telegraph 



THE WELL-DIGGERS OF BACA 309 



line in Persia. Much of their work was across 
sandy deserts, where they had to dig for their 
drinking-water. They had a regular well-dig- 
ging department that went on ahead of the woi k- 
ing-force, until an appropriate camping-place 
was found; and then they set to work and 
drove a well, which furnished them water for 
the night and was deserted the next morning. 
Our Christian pilgrimage is like that. We may 
be passing through the valley of desolation, 
where digging wells is hard work; but we are 
passing through, and it will soon be only a 
memory covered with the golden haze which 
memory casts. We shall not stay in the val- 
ley of "tear shrubs" — we are on our way 
home. When an overland train from the 
West unloads its passengers at the railroad 
station, there are always multitudes of eager 
faces there watching to welcome their weary 
and travel-stained friends ; so there are watch- 
ing at heaven's gates eager faces to greet 
the travellers from this world. 

In a large hall in the Vatican, called the 
Hall of Inscriptions, there are set in the plas- 
ter of the wall on one side fifteen hundred 



310 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



broken marbles taken from the tombs of 
pagan Rome. Upon that wall rests all the 
shadow of death in all its natural terror. 
You will search in vain among all those hun- 
dreds of marbles for one single word of com- 
fort or one ray of hope ; but when you turn 
about to the opposite side of the hall your 
heart is strangely lightened, for there you find 
fifteen hundred inscriptions taken from the 
catacombs, and the beauty of Easter morning 
glorifies the great chamber. However rudely 
the epitaph is written, or however elaborately 
the memorial is embellished, on every side tlie 
words of rest, joy, hope, and reunion greet 
your glad eyes. It is impossible to describe 
the rebound of the heart from the depression 
of one side of the chamber to the exaltation 
of the other. 

Let the glory of our Christian faith give 
gladness to our hearts while we are passing 
through our valley of Baca. We have only 
to be faithful to God and we shall find wells 
sufiicient to sustain and comfort us until we 
stand by the River of Life. 



XYII 



AX EXTHUSIAS^r FOE HTOIAXITY 

[from ax address delivered at the axxual 
meetix'g of the brooklyn church society 
held ix simpsox m. e. church, brooklyx, 

X.Y., APRIL 26, 1894.] 

AN entlinsiasm for humanity itself is needed 
in the church more than anything else. 
It is easy enoiio^h for most of iis to belieye that 
humanity as represented in our o^Yn family, or 
in our little coterie of particular friends, is a 
precious thing. But this is in no sense the 
Chiistian Yie^Y. To Jesus Christ all humanity 
was sacred and precious. Xot because it was 
rich or learned, or loYable to the eye of sense, 
but because every man is a child of God. We 
must have that estimate of humanity. 

I was riding over in northern New York 
a few months ago in a sleeping-car at night. 
311 



812 THE HONEYCOMBS OF, LIFE 

Two men from Montana, who had been mak- 
ing a tour in the East, and were on their way 
home, occupied the section behind me. They 
were both miners, and their talk all through 
the evening was about mines. Finally one of 
these men told the other about a certain gulch 
up in the Montana mountains which widened 
as it came down out of the foot-hills into the 
valley, until at its mouth it was eight miles 
across from one mountain bluff to the other ; 
and he said (now, he may have lied ; miners 
will do that sometimes) that the soil was so 
rich in gold across that entire eight miles that 
you could pull up a bunch of sage-brush any- 
where, and shake the dust off from the roots 
into a gold pan, and get the color of gold. 
As I listened I said to myself, "M}^ friend, I 
don't know whether you are telling the truth 
or not ; but one thing I do know, I could go 
into the dirtiest, filthiest alley in Boston or 
New York or Brooklyn, and pick out the most 
ignorant and neglected specimen of childhood, 
some little sage-brush fragment of human life 
that slept last night in an ash-barrel, and if 
I shake him over the gold scales of heaven, 



AN ENTHUSIASM FOR HUMANITY 313 



God and the angels will see that there is a 
vein of gold there that is worth more than 
the proudest business block on Broadway or 
Fulton Street." When the church really feels 
this and believes it, there will be money 
enough to carry on such societies as the one 
whose anniversary we celebrate to-night. 

It is only by hand-to-hand work — one loving, 
self-sacrificing human brother going face to face 
to his brother with the message of Christ's love 
and God's sympathy — that we are to capture 
the unchurched multitudes in the cities for 
Christ. We must make the people feel and 
know that we have the same spirit toward them 
that Jesus Christ had and has. Coming over 
on the train from Boston this afternoon, I 
opened that really strong book, in spite of its 
fantastic title, The Heavenly Twins," in the 
introduction to which a story is told of an old 
river boatman and a half-grown young lad who 
helped him. They were drifting along the 
river, when the chime from the cathedral tower 
rang out its sweet music on the evening air. 
The old boatman asked the boy if he knew the 
verse that usually went with the tune, and then 
quoted it, — 



314 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



"He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps." 

After a moment's silence the boy inquired, 
"WhosHe?" 

The old man replied, ''I guess it's Christ." 

"I never heard tell on Him," answered the 
boy. 

" Never heard tell of Christ ? " said the old 
man. "I thought every one knowed Him ! " 

Then the boy answered, "I don't know no 
one by the name of Christ; and, what's more, 
I am sure He don't work down our way." 

Brothers, let us take the sorrowful truth home 
to our hearts, that there are multitudes of peo- 
ple in our shops and factories and streets to 
whom Christ is not so presented that they can 
believe that He still walks in fellowship with 
men. It is for us to reveal to them in flesh and 
bone the tender, brotherly, sympathetic, burden- 
sharing, burden-bearing Christ of old. 



XVIII 



TALMAGE AXD HIS WOEK 
[ax address delivered at the quarter-cex- 

TEXXIAL CELEBRATIOX IX BROOKLYX TABER- 
X'ACLE, MAY 10, 1894.] 

OVER ill the Oregon hills, where I spent my 
boyhood, on iNEay afternoons like these ^ye 
are now revelling in, the boys and girls on go- 
ing home from the old log schoolhouse, to which 
many of us walked three or fonr miles every 
dav, had a favorite custom of aatherincr wild- 
flowers — lamb's tongues and honeysuckle, and 
all those quaint, old-fashioned beauties of the 
country hillside. And each bringing his share, 
some one who was skilful at it would weave 
a wreath, which we placed on the head of 
the one who was elected chief for the even- 
ing of the school group. I am very glad, Mr. 
Chairman, of the opportunity of bringing my 
315 



316 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



little handful of wilcl-flowers from the Oregon 
liillsicles, where I first came to know and admire 
Dr. Talmage, and add them to the garland we 
are weaving for the head of the most widely 
known chieftain of the American pulpit — in- 
deed, I doubt not, the most universally read of 
all preachers noAv living in the world. 

I am glad to do this for several reasons. 
First, because Dr. Talmage has, in my judg- 
ment, done more to revolutionize preaching in 
respect to its being made entertaining and in- 
teresting than any other man now among us. 
I think it is safe to say that in an overwhelm- 
ing majority of the churches of the country it 
is no lono-er considered a crime for a sermon to 
be interesting, and that a reputation for ponder- 
ous dulness is coming to be a less winning 
characteristic in a preacher every year. Both 
the pulpit and the pew have great reason to 
thank Dr. Talmage for his influence in this 
direction. 

It is equally true to say that no other min- 
ister of our time has done so much to give 
consecrated individuality the right of way. I 
believe that in no other way has humanity lost 



TALMAGE AND HIS WORK 



317 



SO much as in the repression of individuality. 
Against the tendency to cut all ministers off 
the same piece of cloth, make them up in the 
same style, and hold them to a sort of sanctified 
dudeism, midway between a corpse-like dignity 
and pious imbecility, Dr. Talmage has stood as 
a pulpit Gibraltar ; and thousands of young 
ministers, encouraged by his example and in- 
spired by his inde23endence, have been brave 
enough to be themselves, and live their own 
life and do their own work in their own way. 

Again, I am glad to be here and give my 
word of thanksgiving for the glorious optimism 
that has always shone from this pulpit. During 
all this twenty-five yeai's the Tabernacle pulpit 
has rung out with a bright and cheering faith 
in a God who, having made the world, was 
able to take care of it and bring it at last to 
a successful issue. Thouor-h Dr. Talmag-e has 
preached much of the sins and the vices of the 
community, he has never failed to present a 
Christ mighty in love and power and sympathy 
to save the lowest and the vilest, and bring them 
to spiritual health and saintship. I rejoice in 
this ; for it seems to me that above everything 



318 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



else the careworn, sin-burdened, despairing 
hearts of men need to catch the optimism of 
Jesus Christ, and be led with Him to see Satan, 
like lightning, falling from heaven, first in the 
horizon of their own lives, and then in the wider 
horizon of the human race. This is not the 
devil's world — it is God's; and we all ought to 
be able to sing Avith Arthur Clough, — 

" For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, 
Seem here no painful inch to gain; 
Far back, through creeks and inlets making, 
Comes, silent, flooding in, the main." 

There is another thing for which I greatly 
honor Dr. Talmage. Notwithstanding his in- 
tense individualit}^ and the marvellous personal 
success and triumph which have come to him, 
he has not preached himself from this pulpit, 
but his sermons have glowed with reverence and 
loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. No preacher 
is great enough to preach safely to the people 
any other model save Jesus Christ. Coming 
down the main w^alks from the Capitol at Wash- 
ington towards Pennsylvania Avenue, there are 
groups of steps that are yevj confusing to the 
average j^edestrian ; and a very queer story has 



TALMAGE AND HIS WORK 



319 



recently been told by a Washington newspaper 
man concerning their construction. For years 
there was a man about the Capitol who made 
the study of steps and persons going up and 
down stairs a fad, and in a certain way a science. 
In watching crowds walking doAvn the loug 
approaches to the Capitol, he discovered that 
more people stumbled on those steps than ought 
to, in harmony with his records. The attention 
of the present Capitol architect was called to 
the matter, but he was incredulous abotit it. 
"Why," said he, "Frederick Olmstead. the 
architect, took special pains with those groups 
of steps, I know." However, they watched the 
tripping groups of steps, and discovered that 
the number of persons who stumbled going up, 
and either fell or seemed inclined to fall in 
descending, was really astonishing. Finally tlie 
matter was brought to the attention of 'Mr. 
Olmstead. and he went down to watch the steps 
himself. He was amazed to see how the ^^eople 
behaved when they reached those steps. He 
said, "I cannot account for it. I spent weeks 
arranging the proportion of rise to tread for 
them. Wooden models of them Avere put down 



320 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



for use at my own place, and I walked over 
them day after day, till I felt sure they were 
perfect." " Olmstead, isn't one of 3^our legs a 
trifle shorter than the other? " inquired the step 
expert. Olmstead was dumbfounded when it 
flashed on him that, owing to the inequality in 
the length of his legs, he had made steps to the 
Capitol that were not suited for anybody ex- 
cept people who had the same defect in their 
limbs. Alas ! I fear there is a good deal 
of preaching of that sort in the country — 
a good many stairways set up toward heaven 
that bear all the defects of the men after whose 
walk they have been modelled. It has been the 
glory of this pulpit that while no preacher in 
America has had more characteristic individu- 
ality, he has preached not himself, but " Jesus 
only." 

Again, I am here to thank Dr. Talmage for 
showing us how a man can go on year after 
year doing an enormous amount of work of 
every sort and still keep ever fresh and new as 
a May morning. And yet, after all, an interest 
in humanity, a faith in God, an enthusiasm for 
good causes — these are the things that make 



TALMAGE AND HIS WORK 



321 



US immortal. And nobody makes a greater 
blunder than to su]3pose that the people who 
carry the great burdens of the world on their 
heart, and throw themselves in the thick of the 
fight, are to be pitied or commiserated as being 
the burdened members of the community. On 
the other hand, nobody else has such a keen, 
appetizing, joyous life. Brooke Herford, go- 
ing across Boston Common one day, met Phil- 
lips Brooks. The great bishop, towering far 
above him, looking down into his friend's face, 
saw that he was not in his usual spirits ; 
he seemed oppressed. " What is the matter, 
Herford?" inquired Brooks. And Herford 
said, " Oh, it is hard Avork undertaking to make 
the world go straight." " That's so," said 
Brooks, as his cheery laugh rang out ; " but 
then, what fun it is ! " I am sure that it is 
this touch with all the world, this giving out 
of himself constantly, that keeps Dr. Talmage 
such a well-s23ring of living force. Balzac 
founds one of his novels on the story of the 
magic skin, that invested the man who wore it 
with a strange power to obtain whatever he de- 
sired ; but every time his wish Avas gratified his 



322 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

skin shrivelled and shrank, nntil after a while 
it squeezed the life out of him. So there are 
multitudes of people all about us who are 
clutching at all the good things of God's world, 
and holding on to them, and never letting go, 
who are being smothered to death by their own 
prosperity. It is only the ever giving that shall 
be ever new. 

God bless Dr. Talmage ! May the future be 
yet more magnificent and glorious ! I am sure 
that in the spirit of the faith which he preaches 
to others, he can sing with Browning, — 

" Grow old along with me! 
The best is yet to be, 

The last of life, for which the first was made; 

Our times are in His hand 
Who saith, 'A whole I planned; 

Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!' " 



XIX 



SPIEITUAL AXD OTHER LESSO^^S FEOM 
THE PRESIDENT'S INAUGUPvATION. 

FOR weeks past a great throng has been 
gathering in the city justly named for the 
father of his country. Ever}' day added to 
the thousands journeying thither. Saturday, 
March 4, witnessed beside the Potomac a mar- 
vellous gathering. From all parts of the vast 
domain of the stars and stripes the visitors came. 

Pause for a moment and think what a coun- 
try it is. From the lumbering-camps of Maine, 
and from other lumbering-camps three thousand 
miles to the westward, on the shores of Puget 
Sound ; from the cattle ranges of Texas and 
Colorado ; from tlie mountains of Idaho and 
Tennessee ; from the salmon canneries on the 
Columbia, and the rice-fields and sugar planta- 
tions of Mississippi ; from the orange groves of 
323 



824 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Florida by the Atlantic, and from other orange 
groves in California by the Pacific ; from the 
manufactories of New England, and from the 
empire-like grain fields of the middle West ; 
from the twin cities of Minnesota, and the 
quaint old crescent town of the Dismal Swamp 
of Louisiana, the visitors come to put the wand 
of power in the hand of their fellow-citizen. 
No other country on earth could send such a 
diversified host to its capital seat as this. They 
are of all nationalities. The blood of every 
great historic race floAVS in their veins, and all 
the languages spoken in the capitals of the 
world find company here. 

What do they go to see ^ One of the grand- 
est as well as one of the most significant spec- 
tacles of the nineteenth century — a man who, 
for four years, has been the ruler of more than 
sixty millions of people, wielding a power far 
more real than that exercised by the English 
Queen, quietly stepping aside, relinquishing 
army and navy and official patronage of every 
kind ; stepping out on the plane of the sim- 
ple American citizen, with only the power of 
his single ballot left, which he shares in com- 



LESSONS FROM THE INAUGURATION 325 



mon with the barber who clips liis beard, or 
the man who bhacks liis boots, or tlie coaclimaii 
wlio grooms his horse. 

That is one part of the spectacle — the neg- 
ative side of the picture. The positive side 
attracts most attention. The picture has been 
painting for months. Last autumn, from one 
side of the nation to the other, the people were 
in the midst of deep and anxious debate over a 
coming presidential election. The two great 
parties grappled in a tremendous struggle for 
mastery. The fateful day came. Individual sov- 
ereigns from office and shop and farm, from 
engine and loom and forge, registered their 
clioice for President. Before dawn of the next 
morning the electric currents had carried the 
news to the whole civilized world that a certain 
citizen candidate had been chosen President of 
tlie United States. During all the months 
since then, however, he has been only a private 
citizen. He was only that up to last Saturday 
at twelve o'clock, and would have been promptly 
arrested and jailed if he had undertaken any 
authority of government before noon of March 
4th. Yet this simple American citizen was. 



326 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



when the hour arrived, invested with a prouder 
wand of autliority than is wielded by any other 
potentate on earth, because he has been chosen 
by a nation of sovereigns. 

This spectacle ought to impress us with the 
necessity of keeping the ballot pure. No crime 
is more lieinous than crimes against the purity 
of the ballot. It is only a government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people when 
a majority of the intelligent will-power of tlie 
whole country chooses our rulers and makes 
our laws. And how can Ave say that without a 
twino-e of conscience and a blush of shame 
when we remember that fully one-half of the 
choosing power of the American people lias 
liad no voice in deciding who shall be the Presi- 
dent of the country? This aristocracy of sex 
which' says a man may choose who shall govei-n 
liim, but a woman may not, cannot very long 
withstand the democratic atmosphere of our 
times. Tlie keener sense of jnstice, the higher 
and truer appreciation of the worth of the indi- 
vidual soul which the ever-widening sway of 
Christianity is making prevalent, will, ere long, 
overflow and sweep out to sea the fossil preju- 



LESSONS FEOM THE IXAUGUEATIOX 327 



dices of darker times. God speed the day wlieii 
woman shall stand beside her brothers with the 
ballot as her guaranty of her full right of choice I 

But we should fail to learn one of the o-reat 
and pertinent lessons the inauguration has for 
us if we did not look higher yet. and remember 
that our fathers, in granting the right of choice 
to the individual American citizen, only fol- 
lowed the divin.e plan in our creation. He 
who is over all first o-nxe us the riq-ht of choice. 
We are not machines wound up to run in cer- 
tain grooves. God has given us power to 
choose between good and evil, between rigiit 
and wrono\ But Ave choose in this, as in tem- 
poral matters, evil or good, in electing the char- 
acter of the o'overnment which is to be over us. 
The intellio^ent voter, in votino- for President, 
takes into consideration the principles and ten- 
dency of the party represented, as well as the 
man who is its representative ; for he knows 
that, in choosina- the candidate, he chooses the 
party, and its principles and tendencies. 

So there are placed before us candidates ask- 
inof for our obedience and love, desirino- to rule 
our hearts and lives. The Lord Jesus Christ 



328 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



stands before us as a candidate for our affection 
and trust. If we accept Him, we elect with 
Him all the gracious blessings of His govern- 
ment. We elect all the uplifting and ennobling 
influences of His Gospel. To choose Jesus is to 
choose all the fragrant fruits of spiritual living. 

There is another candidate in the field. He 
appears under different disguises, in the same 
way that a political party sometimes so deftly 
arranges the planks of its platform that it 
appears different to different sections of the 
country. So the great party of evil presents its 
candidate to the human soul. But, after all, 
under all disguises, it is the same old candidate, 
whose name is Selfishness — to have one's own 
way, to indulge one's own appetites and pas- 
sions, the lusts of the flesh. If Ave choose this 
candidate, we choose his party, and its principles 
and tendencies. We may resist them for a 
while, but ultimately they will assume real gov- 
ernment over us. It is worth while knowing 
some of the people who are in this party. Paul, 
who was the greatest expositor of spiritual 
things, said, "The Avorks of the flesh are mani- 
fest, Avhich are these : fornication, uncleanness, 



LESSONS FROM THE INAUGURATION 329 



lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, 
jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, 
enyyings, drunkenness, re veilings, and such 
like." None of this party ever gets to heaven. 
And surely there can be no conception of hell 
more terrible than to be perpetually under such 
a government. 

On the other hand, the soul that chooses 
Jesus chooses His party, its principles and ten- 
dencies. The same great spiritual statesman 
whom I have quoted, says about it, " The fruit 
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, tem- 
perance:*' and Paul concludes that summary 
by saying, They that are of Christ Jesus 
have crucified the flesh with the passions and 
the lusts thereof." What is that but saj^ng 
that in the voting-place of one"s own Avill — a 
place more secret and sacred than any Aus- 
tralian ballot system — a man has held an 
election, and chosen Jesus, and has out-voted 
and defeated utterly, and put to rout and con- 
fusion, all the opposition party of evil ?- When 
is the election day, do you ask? It may be 
now. ''To-day is the day of salvation."' 



XX 



JAMES EUSSELL LOWELL. THE POET- 
EEFOEMEE. 

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL was a many- 
sided man, and there will be many to do 
him justice along all the lines where tlie force 
of his great character found expression. To 
me, however, first of all, and most of all, lie 
was a great poet. He was a poet-preacher. 
Most of his poems are sermons in the highest 
sense, full of prophetic insight, sublime con- 
fidence in God and man, dauntless courage, and 
holy optimism that in spite of all discourage- 
ments and postponement sees ever the coming 
triumph of righteousness — qualities which be- 
long to the true preacher. 

Perhaps in our time there has been no more 
complete representative of New England ideas. 
He was the genius of Puritanism in our day. 
330 



LOWELL, THE POET-REFORMER 331 



It was Puritanism refined, cultivated, polished, 
but with all the old backbone of moral purpose 
and sterling integrity. 

Lowell was poet not simply for the sake of 
the art. His muse was his pulpit. Great con- 
victions stirred, within him until they must find 
utterance, and. found their most appropriate ex- 
pression in verse. Behind everything he wrote, 
even in the most humorous passages of the 
Biglow Papers,"- there was the blood-earnest- 
ness of a deep moral purpose. His conviction of 
a poet's duty is Avell expressed in these lines, — 

" He who would be the tongue of this wide land 
Must string his harp with cords of sturdy iron, 
And strike it with a toil-embrowned hand." 

One of the noblest triumphs of Lowell was 
that, though he was a member of an old and 
highly honorable famih^, born to learning and 
luxurious surroundings, he ever kept his sym- 
pathies fresh and in touch with the common 
people. For instance, he speaks like some 
earnest labor reformer when he saj's, — 

"Hard work is good and wholesome, past all doubt; 
But 'tain't so ef the mind gits tuckered out." 



332 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Or again in these lines, which are especially 
appropriate in these days of the "sweat shop," — 

" Slavery ain't o' nary color, 

'Tain't the hide thet makes it wus, 
All it keers fer in a feller 

'S jest to make him fill its pus." 

In a soberer way we find the same great 
lesson in that splendid parable where he repre- 
sents the Christ as coming back to earth. He 
is given magnificent receptions on every hand 
by the wealthy and the high, and His images 
are pointed out to Him in the great churches 
everywhere, — 

" But still, wherever His steps they led, 
The Lord in sorrow bent His head. 

Then Christ sought out an artisan, 
A low-browed, stunted, haggard man. 
And a motherless girl, whose fingers thin 
Pushed from her faintly want and sin. 

These He set in the midst of them. 
And as they drew back their garment hem 
For fear of defilement, ' Lo, here,' said He, 
- 'The images ye have made of Me !' " 

But Lowell's sympathies were not only in 
touch with the people of his own land, of 



LOWELL, THE POET-REFOKMER 333 

every class and station — his great heart over- 
flowed the boundaries of State lines, and went 
out in earnest compassion to the suffering and 
oppressed of every land and tongue. How 
nobly this shines out in his song of the " Fatlier- 
land," — 

" Where'er a single slave doth pine, 

Where'er one man may help another, — 
Thank God for such a birthright, brother, — 
That spot of earth is thine and mine ! 
There is the true man's birthplace grand, 
His is a world-wide fatherland! " 

The mastery of duty was peculiarly illus- 
trated in James Russell Lowell. No pharisai- 
cal feeling about the " filthy pool of politics " 
kept him back from doing sturdily what he 
deemed to be his duty as a citizen and a patriot. 
Through his life he was faithful to the convic- 
tion that, — 

" The day never comes when it'll du 
To kick off duty like a worn-out shoe." 

He was keenly sensitive to the needs of his 
own time, and had the soul of the prophet to 
detect the spirit of the age. He says, — 



334 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



" I sometimes think, the furder on I go, 
Thet it gits harder to feel sure I know; 
An' when I've settled my idees, I find 
'Twarn't I sheered most in makin' up my mind; 
'Twas this and thet an t'other thing thet done it, 
Sunthin' in th' air, I couldn' seek nor shun it." 

He was also alert to the responsibility he was 
under to be faithful to each day's new duties, 
and felt that the treasures of the past were 
only held by those who were faithful to the 
opportunities of the present, — 

" Freedom gained yesterday is no more ours; 
Men gather but dry seeds of last year's flowers." 

The two great anchorages of our humanity 

always held fast with Lowell. He had faith in 

man, — 

" An' thet's the old Amerikin idee. 
To make a man a Man, and let him be." 

He had faith in God. To his thought, back 
of all the struggles of the race was the lofty 
purpose of God. How clearly this is shown in 
these oft-repeate,d words, — 

" Careless seems the great Avenger; . . . 
Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the 
throne ; 



LOWELL, THE POET-REFORMER 335 



Yet that scaffold sways the futm-e, and behind the dim 
* unknown 
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above 
His own." 

Such a character as Lowell's could not but 
keep fresh and fruitful as the years went on. 
No one has detected more readily the emptiness 
of mere routine living, or warned us more 
sternly of the fatal loss of enthusiasm and gen- 
erous spirit out of our human lives. How 
graphically has he set forth this danger in this 
sonnet of " The Street," — 

" They pass me by like shadows, crowds on crowds, 
Dim ghosts of men, that hover to and fro, 
Hugging their bodies round them like thin shrouds 
Wherein their souls were buried long ago." 

But the years in their flight left no dead 
soul's epitaph on Lowell's face. What he said 
of his friend Longfellow was realized in him- 
self, — 

" Some suck up poison from a sorrow's core, 

As naught but nightshade grew upon earth's groimd; 
Love turned all his to heart' s-ease, and the more 
Fate tried his bastions, she but forced a door 
Leading to sweeter manhood and more soimd." 



XXI 



WHITTIER AND THE GOLDEN EULE 
TTHAT public man, universally known 



T T through two generations, has stood so 
pre-eminently as the incarnation of the Golden 
Rule as John Greenleaf Whittier? The life 
has been as pure and as true as the songs. 
When Vice-President Henry Wilson was on 
his death-bed, he said, "If I had to do, to 
think, to act, and to vote just as I was directed 
by one man, I should choose Whittier. I be- 
lieve him the purest man living on earth." 

Whittier was the singing prophet of what 
was noblest in New England home, social, and 
civil life. In him the Puritan and Quaker 
blended into a harmonious manhood, which was 
at once both sweet and strong. He could speak 
the truth as sternly as Cromwell, but he spoke 
it in love as gentle and tender as a Quaker 




336 



WHITTIER AND THE GOLDEN RULE 337 



maiden's heart. His verse was the outflow of 
his noble Christian manhood. It is always 
earnest, sincere, sympathetic. 

He was, throughout his life, under all emer- 
gencies, consistent to the true spirit of democ- 
racy. He held himself, — 

" Still to a stricken brother true, 

Whatever clime hath nurtured him; 
As stooped to heal the wounded Jew, 
The worshipper of Gerizim. 

By misery unrepelled, unawed 

By pomp or power, thou seest a Man 

In prince or peasant, — slave or lord, — 
Pale priest, or swarthy artisan. 

Through all disguise, form, place, or name. 
Beneath the flaunting robes of sin, 

Through poverty and squalid shame. 
Thou lookest on the man within. 

On man, as man, retaining yet, 

Howe'er debased, and soiled, and dim, 

A crown upon his forehead set, — 
The immortal gift of God to him." 

He judged everything by his standard of the 
Golden Rule, and was sensitive to detect any 
infringement of it. When he read tliat the 
clergy of all denominations had attended in a 



338 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



body a pro-slavery meeting, lending their sanc- 
tion to its proceedings, he exclaimed,— 

" Just God! — and these are they 
, Who minister at Thine altar, God of Right ! 
Men wlio their liands with prayer and blessing lay 
On Israel' s Ark of light ! 

What I preach, and kidnap men ? 
Give thanks, — and rob Thy own afflicted poor ? 
Talk of Thy glorious liberty, a-nd then 

Bolt hard the captive's door ? " 

B*ut he was just as sensitive, on the other 
hand, to detect the spirit of the Golden Rule 
in unexpected places. When the story came 
home from the Mexican War that some noble 
Mexican women had cared for the hated North- 
ern Yankees who were wounded on the battle- 
field with the same sympathy and tenderness 
bestowed on their own loved ones, his heart 
took fire and sang, — 

"Not wholly lost, O Father ! is this evil world of ours; 
Upward, through its blood and ashes, spring afresh the 
Eden flowers ; 

From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send 
their prayer. 

And still Thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our 
air!" 



WHITTIER AND THE GOLDEN RULE 339 



The purse-proud atmospliere of the times 
never for a moment befogged his clear vision 
of the superiority of manhood to wealth. No 
rebuke was sterner than his when he saw, — 

"the dropping blood of labor 
Harden into gold; " 

and beheld with tearful indignation, — 

" smooth-faced Mammon 
Heaping men like grain." 

Defying the " Moloch in State Street," he 
declared, — 

" The gilded chambers built by wrong 
Invite the rust." 

Whittier's ideal of a happy human life was 
in the realization of the Golden Rule, as will 
be seen from these lines, — 

"Released from that fraternal law 

Which shares the common bale and bliss, 
No sadder lot could Folly draw, 

Or Sin provoke from Fate, than this. 

The meal unshared is food unblessed; 
Thou hoard' st in vain what love should spend; 
Self -ease is pain ; thy only rest 
Is labor for a worthy end." 



340 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

And surely no man has written more in 
harmony with the spirit of Christ than in these 
verses from Whittier's hymn of Worship," — 

" O brother man! fold to tliy heart thy brother; 
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there ; 
To worship rightly is to love each other, 
Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer. 

Follow with reverent step the great example 
Of Him whose holy work was ' doing good ; ' 

So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple, 
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude." 



XXII 



LUCY LAECOM AXD HER SWEET SOXGS 
OF COMMOX LIFE 

LUCY LARCOM, of all American singers re- 
maining with us at the time of her death, 
was pre-eminently the poet of common life. 
Born to toil, spending her early years in the 
factory, and thus knowing perfectly the trials 
and sorrows, as well as the joys and inspira- 
tions, of working people, she retained her fel- 
lowship and sympathy with them to the last. 
We haye a window into the woi'kshop, and 
into her own generous soul as well, in these 
verses from her sono- of Weayino-,'" — 

" 'I weave, and weave, the livelong day: 
The woof is strong, the warp is good : 

I weave, to be my mother's stay; 
I weave, to win my daily food: 

But ever as I weave,' saith she, 

' The world of women liaunteth me. 

341 



342 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



' 1 think of women sad and poor; 

Women who walk in garments soiled : 
Their shame, their sorrow, I endure; 

By their defect my hope is foiled: 
The blot they bear is on my name ; 
Who sins, and I am not to blame ? ' " 

American womanhood shows no more inspir- 
ing picture than Lucy Larcom in her "cloth- 
room," turning from her work at every spare 
moment during the day to her text-books on 
mathematics, grammar, EngHsh or German lit- 
erature, which she kept on her desk. It is 
to her everlasting honor that, climbing up- 
ward by her own exertions, she retained that 
sweet spirit of sistei'hood with all other toil- 
ers whom she had outstripped in the march 
of life by reason of her richer gifts. 

I once knew a distinguished judge who had 
had no opportunities for early education, but 
who, after he was grown and married, by the 
aid of his indomitable will and tireless indus- 
try, so used his spare time while working as a 
country blacksmith, that he became well edu- 
cated, mastered the law, and is now a cel- 
ebrated United States judge. I heard this 
gentleman, in a public dining-room, bewail 



LUCY LAECOM's SOXGS OF COMMOX LIFE 343 



the fact, as one of tlie sad things in a democ- 
racy, that a gentleman's sons had to be edu- 
cated in association with tlie boys from the 
homes of mechanics. How contemptible ! HaA"- 
ing climbed np himself by way of the forge and 
the anvil, he desired to close the ladder against 
all later comers. 

There was nothing of this spirit about Lucy 
Larcom. She was ever the affectionate sister 
of the lowliest toiler. Her tender interpreta- 
tion of the sorrows of the humble have caused 
the heart-strings of the whole world to vibrate. 
Her " Hannah Binding Shoes " has shared with 
Hood's " Song of the Shirt in universal appre- 
ciation. 

No one has sung more truly or more SAveetly 
of the fellowship of humanity. The little dia- 
logue of " Valley and Peak illustrates this, — 

" The Yalley said to the Peak, 

' O Peak I fain would arise 
And be great like you ! I would seek 

The wealth that illumes your skies ! 
Although I lie so low 

At your feet, I aspire to share 
The splendor and strength you know, 

Lifted up into spacious air.' 



344 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



The Peak to the Valley said, 

' O Valley, be content, 
Since for you my veins have bled. 

And for you my breath is spent ! 
Alone, for your sake, I live 

In the cold and cloudy blue; 
Great only in that I give 

The riches of heaven to you.' " 

And no other poet has given us a finer ex- 
pression of the great Scriptural revelation that 
it is more blessed to give than to receive," — 

" Hand in hand with the angels; 

Blessed so to be! 
Helped are all the helpers; 

Giving light, they see. 
He who aids another 

Strengthens more than one ; 
Sinking earth he grapples 

To the Great White Throne." 

Or again, in the lines that follow, — 

" The secret of life, — it is giving; 
To minister and to serve ; 
Love's law binds the man to the angel, 
And ruin befalls, if we swerve." 

Lucy Larcom came into such close touch 
with the humblest human lives, that she knew 
of the hidden vein of precious metal that many 



LUCY laeco:m's soxgs of commox life 345 



do not see, and, failing to perceive, come to be 
sceptical as to its existence. There are man}- 
in these great cities who. lost in the whirl of 
business success, forget the immortal values 
that are at stake in lives that hang on their 
forbearance or generosity. All such need to 
pray Lucy Larcom's prayer in the poem en- 
titled The Stray. Leaf,'' — 

" Dear Father, Tliy handwriting make us see 
On each soiled fragment of humanity!" 

And we all need to learn that there can be 
no real acceptance of Jesus Christ as our own 
Saviour without a true appreciation of the uni- 
versal brotherhood. How trulv she sino\s it I — 

"Xot my Christ only; He is ours; 
Humanity's close bond." 

In this age, so permeated with a sceptical 
materialism, it is refreshing to catch the spirit 
of this noble woman's cheerful faith. She be- 
lieved with Phillips Brooks that the greatest 
of all revelations of God is that which He 
makes to the individual sotil. Hence she 
says, — 



346 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



" ' Tis the Eternal Deep that answers to the deep within 
my soul." 

And yet again, — 

" He cheats not any soul. He gave 
Each being unity like His ; 
Love, that links beings, He must save; 
Of Him it is." 

To her He was the 

" Life, that breathest in all sweet things 
That bud and bloom upon the earth, 
That fillest the sky with songs and wings." 

And sometimes in the hurry of prosaic city 
life heavenly Adsion was given to her, as to Paul 
on his way to Damascus, — 

" I cannot tell how, yet I know it, — 
That once imto me it was given, 
'Mid the noonday stir of the city. 
To breathe for a moment of heaven. 

The heaven that is hidden within us 

For a moment was open to me, 
And I caught a glimpse of the glory 

That perhaps we might always see." 

One who opens the heart to God like that 
can always summon one's own self, as she did. 



LUCY LARCOM's songs OF COMMON LIFE 347 



to lofty work. In that splendid poem, ''A Word 
with My Soul," she says, — 

" Build up, Soul, a lofty stair; 
Build a room in healthier air ! 

Here there is no rest: 

Better climbs to best. 
Thy friends shall be the eternal stars; 
They greet thee through thy casement bars: 

Thy homesick feet they lead 

Where thou no house wilt need." 

A soul having such a consciousness of itself 
and of its God can have no fear about its im- 
mortality. 

" The living soul spells not the name of death." 

And who has so sweetly described those 
blessed premonitions of the life to come which 
all earnest souls have shared ? 

"Odors from blossoming worlds unknown 
Across my path are blown ; 
Thy robes trail hither myrrh and spice 
From farthest Paradise ; 

I walk through Thy fair universe with Thee, 
And sun me in Thine immortality." 



XXIII 



THE YACHT RACE AS A PICTURE OF 
HUMAN LIFE 

" The swift ships." — Job ix. 26. 

A YACHT race, with the world for an audi- 



XX. ence, has been the wholesome spice in the 
past week's making of history. Any new illus- 
tration of the power of man to lord it over the 
forces of nature is sure of a hearing ; and when 
to this is added national spirit in earnest rivalry, 
the interest is intensified. But the ship is used 
so often in the Bible to point a moral, or teach 
a serious lesson, that we ought not to let this 
universal interest in swift ships go by without 
seeking to gather from them some lessons that 
will remain with us when all this ephemeral 
enthusiasm shall have passed away. 

Each one of our human lives has many points 
of resemblance to a ship ; and in soul navigation 




348 



THE YACHT EACE AND HOEIX LIFE 349 



many of the experiences jotted down in a sliip's 
logbook are reproduced. 

As I have read the reports uf tlie preparations 
for tlie international yacht race, the first thing 
that has impressed me has been that mticli de- 
pended upon tlie model of the vessel — a fail- 
ure there wonld doom the swift ship from the 
beo-inniiio". The timber tliat is to enter into 

O O 

the coiistrnction of tlie vessel, and all other 
materials, must be of the very best : and the 
model must be as near perfection as human 
ino-enuitv can devise. Xo one has nainted the 
building of a ship so well as our own Long- 
fellow. — 

" In the sliipyard stood the blaster. 
With the model of the vessel. 
That should laugh at all disaster, 

And with wave and whirlwind wrestle ! 

Covering many a rood of ground, 
Lay the timber piled around ; 
Timber of chestnut, and elm, and oak, 
And scattered here and there, with these. 
The knarred and crooked cedar knees ; 

Ah ! what a wondrous thing it is 
To note how many wheels of toil 
One thought, one word, can set in motion ! 



350 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

There's not a ship that sails the ocean, 
But every climate, every soil. 
Must bring its tribute great or small, 
And help to build the wooden wall ! " 

How like that is to the building of a man or 
woman ; especially in our day when the world 
is brought into such close fellowship. Not only 
is every land put under tribute, but every age 
in the world's history. No geologist has ever 
delved in the rocks, no astronomer ever peered 
into the Milky Way, no poet ever sung, no 
warrior ever led the soldiers of freedom, no 
orator ever stirred the noble ambitions of his 
fellows, no martyr ever suffered at the stake or 
on the cross, but they contribute, one and all, 
in intelligence or liberty, to the making of the 
soul that is building in our midst to-day. 

The ship in its early stage of building shows 
little of the beauty which is disclosed after a 
while, when, with all sails flying, it rides upon 
the wave like some great celestial bird — '^a 
thing of life." Let us look through Long- 
fellow's lines again, — 

" Day by day the vessel grew, 

With timbers fashioned strong and true, 
Stemson and keelson and sternson-knee, 
Till, framed with perfect symmetry. 



THE YACHT EACE AND HUMAN LIFE 351 



A skeleton ship rose up to view ! 

And around the bows and along the side 

The heavy hammers and mallets plied, 

Till after many a week, at length, 

Wonderful for form and strength, 

Sublime in its enormous bulk. 

Loomed aloft the shadowy hulk 1 

And around it columns of smoke, upwreathing, 

Eose from the boiling, bubbling, seething 

Caldron, that glowed. 

And overflowed 

With the black tar. heated for the sheathing ; 
And amid the clamors 
Of clattering hammers, 
He who listened heard now and then 
The song of the Master and his men : — 
' Build me straight, 0 worthy ^Master, 

Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel, 
That shall laugh at all disaster. 

And with wave and whirlwind wrestle ! ' " 

Much of the discipline of youth is like the 
noise of the hammers and the smell of boiliug 
tar. That need not discourao-e us if only the 
young life is being formed after the true model, 
and wrought upon by skilful and honest hands. 
The most discouramno; thino- one sees in the 
great human dockyards is that so many ships 
seem to be thrown together without plan or 
model. Many put to sea only painted hulls. 



352 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

having seemed to care for nothing save galley 
and bunk ; and, without rudder, mast, or sail, 
drift from the beginning, the plaything of every 
chance tide that sweeps the ocean of human 
life. 

Another thing that has interested me is that 
the greatest care has been exercised over these 
fast 3'achts to see that they were in perfect con- 
dition for the race. They were taken out of 
the water, everything scraped off, and the cop- 
per sheathing smoothed, so that not even the 
slightest wrinkle should retard the swift motion 
of the vessel. Every stick of timber, and every 
yard of sail, was carefully gone over, that there 
might be no doubt that they were strong enough 
to bear the great strain that might come upon 
them, and not be found wanting in the moment 
of emergency. And we know this was wise ; 
for in the great English races, recently, a race 
was lost by a rotten sail. 

How plain is the lesson taught us by these 
careful preparations for a few miles of exciting 
rivalry ! With these immortal souls we are 
sailing a voyage of infinite importance. We 
are sailing on an ocean where the " soft south 



THE YACHT EACE AND HUMAN LIFE 853 



winds " may be suddenly displaced by the 
wild fury of " Euroclydon." We should care- 
fully fit ourselves for life's voyage. Careful- 
ness will mean all the difference between a 
prosperous voyage and a safe port, or the 
bottom of the ocean, or a vessel broken on the 
rocks. 

How many there are in life's race who drift 
out of the track of successful vessels, with a 
broken mast or a torn sail ! How many become 
water-logged, and the inspiration of the voyage 
is lost by the cruel work at the pumps to keep 
the vessel afloat ! How earnest are the orders 
of our Captain, " Watch and pray, lest je enter 
into temptation." Again and again that com- 
mand to be alert and vigilant Avas rung out on 
the disciples' ears. 

In Isaiah a wicked man is compared to a ship 
whose tacklings are loosed. Of course a ship 
whose tacklings are loosed from her masts is 
not fit for service and is in constant peril. No 
intelligent sailor would consent to sail on such 
a ship. But we meet men and women every 
day who are out on the serious voyage of 
human life with the gearing of mind and heart 



354 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



all loose. In fine weather, when everything is 
propitious, they make no headway, and at the 
first severe storm the}^ are cast away. The 
beautiful Gitana, which once led the yachts 
of the world, under the skilful management of 
Captain Sherlock, falling into careless hands, 
was stranded on the rocks. Sad as it is to see a 
stranded ship, it does not compare with a 
stranded man or woman with sails flapping 
helplessly against the mast, out of life's channel 
and beached beyond hope. 

A yacht trimmed for the race must be clear 
of every hindrance ; so if we will make swift 
progress in the divine life, we must lay aside 
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily 
beset us." Have you never seen a vessel down 
the harbor, when the tide w^as running out, 
swinging with it, and seeming as if it would 
follow that ocean call, yet could not because of 
the hidden anchor whose flukes were imbedded 
in the deep mud of the bay? So many a soul 
is drawn by the heavenly currents ; and ever 
and anon as the tides of their better self surge 
about them they sway that way, but yet always 
fall back again to Avallow in the harbor, because 



THE YACHT EACE AXD HUMAN LIFE 355 



they are anchored to some secret sm which 
holds them fast. 

Another fact about yachting has been espe- 
cially emphasized this past week. That is that 
the ship must be propelled by some power 
foreign to herself. If she have no engine to 
generate steam, then she must spread her sails, 
and depend upon the wind ; and if that fails, as 
it did last Thursday, the race becomes only a 
diift. So this ship of the immortal soul needs 
the heavenly trade-winds, the w^ind of the 
Spirit, to speed her on her way. Many times 
w^e fail to make progress because we do not 
spread the canvas to catch the breeze offered us. 
One of the captains, this past week, was criti- 
cised by the newspapers (who always know^ 
how to sail a boat, or conduct a lawsuit, or 
preach a sermon, better than does the captain 
or judge or preacher) because he did not man- 
age to get the full benefit of the little move- 
ment there was in the air. Whether tliat were 
just or not, we all kiiow that in the higher 
realms of spiritual navigation a vast amount of 
power remains unused. 

Some one writing about steamships recently, 



356 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



said that one of the great scientific problems of 
the age is how to utilize steam so as to gain the 
full value of it. In a locomotive or an ocean 
liner only a comparatively small percentage of 
the steam can at present be brought to bear 
upon the propelling agent. The remainder 
goes to waste. Much the same thing is true in 
the realm of religious achievement. Only a 
portion of our spiritual powers and opportuni- 
ties are fully used. One of the most pressing 
needs of tlie cause of Christ upon earth is that 
those who profess to have it at heart should 
give it the benefit of the full exercise of their 
powers and opportunities. Were no other ad- 
vance than this to be made during the com- 
ing year, the world, and probably the church 
also, would be amazed by the improved state of 
thino^s which would result. 

How can this desirable object be obtained? 
The first step naturally is for every Christian to 
ask this question, " What spiritual possibilities 
am I personally allowing to remain neglected 
or imperfectly used ? " To answer this question 
honestly will lead most of us to a more con- 
scientious study of ourselves, which in itself 



THE YACHT RACE AND HUMAN LIFE 357 

will be of great and permanent benefit. There 
will be few, if indeed there be any, who cannot 
thus discover directions in which they can and 
ought to consecrate themselves individually 
more earnestly to the Divine service, and to put 
forth more wise and zealous efforts for the 
religious good of others. We will not dwell 
now upon the duty of endeavoring to grow in 
grace. This is obvious and conceded. Assum- 
ing it, and the more fully because an increase 
of devotedness to God in the form of effort 
made for others always results in an increase of 
the consecration of the worker, we would put 
emphasis on the duty of trying to discover what 
more we can do than we are doing to commend 
Christ and His truth to others by service ren- 
dered them. 

The way to test a ship is to give her a chance 
at the breeze, with the blue waves under her 
keel. As Henry Ward Beecher once said, Sup- 
pose a man should sail, all the boiling and blaz- 
ing day, round and round a ship in the harbor ; 
and the next day you should see him, like a 
magnified fly, creeping up and down the masts 
and spars, and examining the rigging ; and you 



358 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



should ask him what he was doing, and he 
should answer, " I have heard that this ship is 
a dull sailer, and I want to look and see." 
Could he ever find out that way? No. Let 
him weigh anchor and spread canvas, and take 
the wind and bear away, if he would know how 
she sails. 

So if a Christian Avould learn his true state, 
let him not row gloomily around the hull of liis 
self-consciousness, and creep with morbid ego- 
tism up and down the masts and spars of his 
feelings and affections, but let him spread the 
sails of resolution and bear away on the ocean 
of duty. 

There is oue thing in which this spiritual 
race in which we are all entered differs from the 
international yacht race. In that only one can 
win the prize, but in the higher race all may 
win. And because my brother's ship passes 
rapidly on I am not delayed ; for sometimes in 
a race one yacht, by getting ahead in a certain 
position, will take a rival's wind, and so retard 
it. Thank God that in soul navigation the 
prosperity of one makes it easier for every one 
else ! All envy, therefore, is not only sin, but 



THE YACHT RACE AND HUMAN LIFE 359 

the greatest folly ; and we ought to liail with 
brotherliness every passing ship on life's stormy " 
main. As ships meet at sea and signal a word 
of greeting to each other, and grant help when 
needed, so men meet in this world; and Ave 
ought not to cross any man's path without hail- 
ing him, and, if he needs, give him supplies. 
As,- 

" Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in 
passing, 

Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; 
So, on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, 
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a 
silence." 

Do you remember the wave of enthusiasm 
that swept over this country a few years ago, 
when that brave Philadelphia captain threw 
overboard his costly cargo that he might make 
room for the sinking Norwegian steamship? 
So we ought always to be ready to unload 
earthly treasures, if thereby we may give succor 
to brother ships sailing for immortal climes. 

But after all else has been done, the vessel 
must be in the hands of a safe pilot. How 
many promising human ships are being wrecked 



360 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 

these days through that fatal lack ! O my 
brother, do not sail without the Great Pilot at 
the helm ! He aa^II guide us safe through life's 
storms, and past all dangers, safe into the haven 
at last. 

Tennyson sang, — " 

" Sunset and evening star, 
And one clear call for me ! 
And may there be no moaning of the bar, 
When I put out to sea, 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep. 

Too full for sound and foam, 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep 

Turns again home. 

Twilight and evening bell. 

And after that the dark ! 
And may there be no sadness of farewell, 

When I embark; 

For tho' from out our bourn of Time and Place, 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crost the bar." 

Sweet as that is, some one else sings, with 
more of spiritual assurance and insight, this 
prayer to Christ, — 



THE YACHT KACE AXD HUMAX LIFE 361 



"Be Thou my Guide on life's temxjestuous sea; 

Be Tliou my Guide. 
The waves run high, and all seems dark to me; 

Be Thou my Guide. 
Take Thou the helm, and steer me safely o'er 
Life's siu-ging sea to the celestial shore. 

I did not always fear that winds or sea 

Could overwhelm: 
I never looked. I never prayed to Thee 

To take the helm. 
I trusted to myself through storm and wave. 
And never thought of Him who came to save. 

I tried to do without Thee, but in vain — 

In vain the hope; 
With all the perils of the "whelming main 

I could not cope ; 
Xow from the deep I turn my eyes to Thee ; 
O Saviour, take the helm and pilot me I " 



XXIV 



A CPvOWN FOR THE MAN WHO FAILS 

"Among Iheni that are boiii of women there is none greater 
than John." — Luke vii. 28 (R.V.)- 

"And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall 
I ask ? And she said, The head of John the Baptist." — Mark 
vi. 24 (R.V.). 

THESE two brief Scriptures place before us 
two pictures in the life of a strong and in- 
teresting man. In the first one we have the 
testimony of the best judge of human nature 
that ever walked among men ; He who more 
perfectly than anybody else knew what was in 
man. This competent judge, speaking to the 
multitudes that thronged about Him, declared 
that John was as great a man as ever lived. 
And yet it is only a few days thereafter that 
we see the liead of this great man coming into 
the palace dining-room on a charger, as a prize 
to a thoughtless dancing-girl, to appease the 
.362 



A CROWN FOR THE MAN AYHO FAILS 363 



vengeance of her dissolute and vindictive 
mother. To the superficial observer the life of 
John seems to have ended in failure. All his 
ministry of promise, and it had promised much, 
is broken down at what seems to be the open- 
ing of a great career. To our short-sighted 
judgment no one could have been so well fitted 
to be the chief apostle of the new faith as the 
man who with such simplicity and fidelity and 
such dauntless courage had proclaimed the com- 
ing of the Christ. He is still a young man, 
scarcely entering on middle life. His best 
years ought to be yet before him. But all this 
promise of a career of greatness, which is en- 
hanced by the sublime Avords of appreciation of 
Jesus Himself, is eclipsed by the darkness of 
the dungeon, and finally destroyed by the exe- 
cutioner's axe. And yet we all feel that the 
life of John the Baptist was not a failure, that 
rather it was a great and splendid success. For 
more than eighteen hundred years poor old 
Herod has been dethroned — a corruj^t, beg- 
garly outcast by the universal verdict of public 
opinion ; and John has been enthroned as a true 
and noble character wdio filled well his mission. 



364 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Surely there must be more than appears on the 
surface of life if this is so. 

Now, John is only an illustration of what is 
going on constantly among men and women in 
every walk of life. There are many people 
with- honest hearts and good purposes, who are 
faithful to God and their duty, loving their fel- 
lows, and yet their lives fail of the usual crown 
of devotion and toil, and they are cut down just 
as the blossom is beginning to bud upon their 
tree of promise. Some men fight and win. 
They are crowned with glory. All the way 
along they are cheered by sympathetic multi- 
tudes and followed by applause. Others, just 
as true, fight as faithfully, only to be defeated 
and forgotten of men. Now, the Avhole spirit 
of our Bible and our Christianity is full of con- 
solation and comfort for people who fight hon- 
estly for the right, and, so far as the world 
can see, fail, 

Walt Whitman writes in that strange style 
of his, which, however, is not strange enough to 
hide the true poetic insight into human nature 
which it discloses, a song for the men who 
fail, — 



A CROWN FOR THE MAN WHO FAILS 365 



" With music strong I come, witli my cornets and my drums ; 
I play not marches for accepted victors only, 
I play marches for conquered and slain persons. 
Have you heard that it was good to gain the day ? 
I also say it is good to fall ; battles are lost in the same 

spirit in which they are won. 
I beat and pound for the dead, 

I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest 
for them ; 

Vivas to those who have failed ! 

And to those whose war vessels sank in the sea ! 

And to those themselves who sank in the sea ! 

And to all generals that lost engagements, and all over- 
come heroes ! 

And the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest 

heroes known ! 
Did we think victory great ? 

So it is ; but now it seems to me . . . that defeat is great, 
And that death and dismay are great." 

Christ gave a marvellous illustration of how 
easy it is for men to blunder in their estimate 
of what constitutes success and failure in His 
story of Dives and Lazarus. Everybody 
thought Dives was a prosperous man. And, 
no doubt, all were just as unanimous that Laz- 
arus was a most miserable failure. Perhaps 
even the street curs who licked his sores had a 
contempt for the poor wretch who could not 
drive them away. And yet in the eye of the 



366 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



All- Wise Judge, Dives was a failure, and Laz- 
arus Avas a conspicuous success. I wonder if 
some of us are not making the same mistake in 
our judgiDcnts now. 

In Beatrice Harraden's brilliant book, " Ships 
that Pass in the Night," there is given a 
unique and interesting little parable in wliich 
the Genius of Failure and the Genius of Suc- 
cess passed away from earth together, and 
found themselves in a foreign land. Success 
still wore her laurel wreath which she had worn 
on earth. There was a look of ease about her 
whole appearance, and there was a smile of 
pleasure and satisfaction on her face as though 
she knew she had done well, and had deserved 
her honors. Failure's head was bowed ; no 
laurel wreath encircled it ; her wan face bore 
traces of pain. She had -once been beautiful 
and hopeful, but both hope and beauty liad 
been lost in sorrow and disappointment. They 
stood together, these two who differed so widely 
in their appearance, waiting for an audience 
with the sovereign of the foreign land. Finally 
an old gray-haired man came to them and asked 
their names. 



A CEOWX FOR THE MAN WHO FAILS 367 



"I am Success,*' said Success, advancing a 
step forward and smiling ^it him as she pointed 
to her Laurel wreath. 
• He shook his head. 

Ah," he said, " do not be too confident. 
Very often things go by opposite names in this 
land. What you call Success we often call 
Failure, and what you call Failure we call 
Success. Do you see these two men waiting 
there? The one nearer to us was thought to 
be a good man in your world. The other was 
generally accounted bad; but here we call the 
bad man good, and the good man bad. That 
seems strange to you. Well, then, look yonder. 
You considered that statesman to be sincere ; 
but we say he was insincere. We chose as our 
poet-laureate a man at whom your world 
scoffed. Ay, and those flow^ers yonder : for us 
they have a fragrant charm ; we love to see 
them near us. But you do not even take the 
trouble to pluck them from tlie hedges where 
they grow in rich profusion. So. you see, what 
we value as a treasure, you do not value at all." 

Then he turned to Failure. 

"And your name? " he asked kindly. 



368 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



"I am Failure," she said sadly. 

He took her by the hand. 

" Come, now, Success," he said to her, " let 
me lead you into the Presence-Chamber." 

Then she who had been called Failure, and 
was now called Success, lifted up lier bowed 
head, and raised her weary frame, and smiled 
at the music of her new name. And with that 
smile she regained her beauty and her hope. 
And hope having come back to her, all her 
strength returned. 

I wonder if Lazarus had an experience like 
that when the angels bore him in triumph to 
Abraham's bosom. 

Many a splendid success is built upon the 
heroic failures that have gone before. A min- 
ing expert who was recently sent to investigate 
some Arizona properties for Denver capitalists, 
on his return reported the finding of a most 
remarkable natural bridge formed by a tree of 
agatized wood, spanning a canon forty-five feet 
in width. The tree had at some remote time 
fallen and become imbedded in the slip of some 
great inland sea or mighty water overflow. 
The slip became in time sandstone, and the 



A CROWN FOR THE MAX AVHO FAILS 369 



wood gradually passed through the stages of 
mineralization until it became a wonderful tree 
of solid agate. In after years the ^Yater washed 
away the sandstone until the canon was 
formed ; and the flint-like substance of the 
agatized wood liaA^ing resisted the erosion, it 
remained to form the bridge. Where the bark 
has been broken and torn away from the trunlv 
of the tree, the characteristic colors of jasper 
and agate are seen. To the naked eye the 
wood is beautiful, but under a miner's magni- 
fying glass the brilliancy of the colorings is 
clearly brouglit out in all their wondrous 
beauty. So many a life tree, prostrated and 
forofotten, comes to be the beautiful brido^e OA'er 
which the future generations walk to triumph. 
An English poet sings, — 

" Failed ? ' Ah, yes, poor fellow ! ' you say. 
' Nothing from life he seemed to gain. 
His was a truly losing fight, 
And all too soon the cruel night 

Closed around — beat him do^^m. He was slain. 
Yes, failed.' you say. 

Failed I But I tell you, tell you, Xay ! 

'Twas a noble fight he fought, and well — 



370 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



With courage held high and brow clear, 
No skulking idly in the rear, 

And if vanquished, 'twere fighting — fighting he 
fell. 

No failure, I say. 

And look you ! Wha.t call you success ? 

The poor plaudits of some few men ? 
A palace reared from the cold — 
A red heap of this earth-dug gold ? 

A cathedral crypt ? And then — well what then ? 
Why, only a guess. 

And I say again, Count you the cost 

Of this bridge ? To what is it nailed ? 

What are its bulwarks piled high — these 

You cross to the city of ease ? 

Man, I tell you 'tis built on the failed — 
The fighters who lost. 

And he — scorn or pity as you will — 

'Twas fording that stream he fell. 
For Freedom, for Man, for the Right ! 
Was his cry in the heat of the fight; 

And for these, and for you, rang his knell. 
Then, ' failed ' say you still ? 

Dry-shod reach your Promised Land now 

On his failure — on those the world railed — 

They, the stuff of whom heroes are, 

Who saw its lights gleam from valleys afar. 

And fought for it — died for it — failed. 
No failure, I vow." 



A CIIOWX FOK THE MAX WHO FAILS 371 



The common soil of human life is constantly 
producing fragrant flowers of heroism and self- 
sacrifice for the exhibition of which saints and 
martyrs and lieroes liave been crowned; yet for 
every romantic and splendid deed which has 
succeeded in o-aining' immortal honor amona- 
men, there are ten thousand actions just as 
beautiful that o-o unsuno-. 

One of the Xew York daily papers only this 
week contained the story of a Hungarian whose 
wife has been ill at the Bellevue Hospital. 
The other morninof he walked several miles to 
the hospital, carrj'ing in his arms an eighteen 
months' old baby boy and a few pieces of stale 
bread, which in his ignorance he thought his 
wdfe needed. He was found staggering about 
like a drunken man outside the walls of the 
hospital. When brought in, both he and the 
babe seemed in a sort of stupor. Finally he 
manaofed to make the warden understand that 
neither himself nor child had eaten anything for 
three days. The warden sent for some milk. 
It was offered to the babe, who was too weak to 
swallow at first, but finally managed to drink. 
When the milk was offered to the father he 



372 THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



declined to accept it, saying his share should be 
given to the baby ; and the noble fellow, though 
he was starving, would not touch it until lie 
was assured that the child should have all the 
nourishment it wanted. To my mind the story 
of Sir Philip Sidney and his glass of water on 
the battle-field does not reveal a nobler quality 
of soul than that possessed by this poor Hun- 
garian . 

On a train going into Philadelphia the other 
day a party of fashionable young people, who 
had been out to a club-house picnic, filled the 
cars. They were all of this class with the ex- 
ception of one tired, faded-looking old woman, 
who carried in her arms a bundle done up in a 
newspaper — a loosely tied, slijD-shod package 
that she handled with care. When the crowd 
surged into the car she took her seat at the 
extreme end, in one of the places that brought 
her right in the midst of a group of particu- 
larly wild and gay young revellers. With anx- 
ious care she held on her lap the package done 
up in its greasy paper, and ever and anon a 
tear-drop fell* on it. A lurch of the train threw 
one of the young fellows, who was sitting on 



A CROWN FOR THE MAN WHO FAILS 373 



the arm of the seat, ahiiost on to the precious 
bundle. With a startled exclamation, and voice 
made shrill by fear, the woman cried, — 

" Look oat ! Can't you see you are crushing 
the bundle ? " 

" I beg ten thousand pardons, madam," re- 
plied the youth, who, owing to his awkward 
lurch and the sharp exclamation of the woman, 
had raised a laugh at his expense. " Won't 
you allow me to secure you a seat in the bag- 
gage-car, where you and your trunk will be in 
no danger of being harmed by contact with the 
wide world ? " And in an undertone he added 
to his companions, " It's the place for cattle, 
anyhow. The English system of first, second, 
and third class is far superior to our mode of 
crowding in with all sorts of creatures." 

The quick ear of the woman had caught the 
word " cattle," and she sprang to her feet like a 
tigress. 

" Cattle, is it ! " she exclaimed. " I may not 
be a lady like your pretty friend, but I am a 
woman, with a woman's feelings. That bundle 
has flowers in it for me dead baby. While yez 
were dancin' and drinkin', me little boy was 



374 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



lyiii' cold and stiff, and these two arms, that 
should have held him, had to wash the dishes at 
the club-house to get money enough to take me 
back to the day nursery where I left him this 
mornin'. I have known me little boy was dead 
for four hours ; and with me heart breakin' I 
had to go on with me work to get me money. 
There's only a few buttercups in that bundle ; 
but me little boy loved them, and I mane to 
carry them to where he is, and place them in 
the little dead hands and around the little body. 
Oh, me baby ! me baby ! " 

And the poor mother, overcome by her feel- 
ings, sank into her seat and gave way for the 
first time to an unrestrained fit of sobbing and 
crying that shook her frame and left not a dry 
eye in the car. To my mind, history does not 
hold a more poetic vision of mother-love than 
is revealed in that poor okl Irishwoman and her 
bundle of buttercups for her dead baby. 

Harvard College has just received a very 
remarkable gift. A colored woman, Harriet 
Hayden, escaped from slavery before the war, 
and found refuge with her husband and baby in 
Canada. During the Rebellion her heart went 



A CROWX FOR THE MAN WHO FAILS 375 



out in prayerful longings to help her own poor 
people, and she came to be acquainted with 
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, and was of 
great assistance to him in enlisting negro sol- 
diers. This woman has just paid into the treas- 
ury of Harvard College, out of her own hard 
work, a scholarship fund of five thousand dol- 
lars, the annual income of which is to be used 
perpetually to aid each 3'ear some deserving 
colored student. There are no scales on earth 
fine enough to weigh a gift lilvc that, or to 
measure the sacrifices and tears and prayers 
and holy devotion tliat have gone into the sav- 
ing of that five thousand dollars. I can ima- 
gine Jesus standing by at the treasury as of old, 
and looking at -all the gifts of hundreds and 
thousands of millions as they came into the 
treasury of education last year, and I can hear 
Him say, as tliis poor old black woman hobbles 
up on her crutcli with her bag of savings, "She 
hath given more tlian they all." The world 
may count her life a failure, but it will shine 
out through the great eternities as a marvellous 
success. 

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews, which 



376 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



is called sometimes the roll-call of the heroes 
of the faith, has also been aptly called an " Epic 
of Failure ; " for it is from beginning to end a 
glorification of men who were foiled and de- 
feated. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, 
and multitudes of others who were just as 
faithful and true, but whose names were not 
even gatliered for history's urn, although the 
world was not worthy of them, walked not by 
sight but by faith, lived ever in hope of the 
promise, and yet all died without entering into 
the promised land which they longed for. They 
all achieved their final victory by failure. And 
when we come for our final illustration to Him 
who is at once our Saviour and our Exemplar, 
the Christ, what more conspicuous lesson of 
His life than that great triumph cannot be had 
except at the cost of failure? The very mob 
that surrounded His cross shouted this in His 
dying face when they said, He saved others. 
Himself He cannot save." To human judg- 
ment no life ever ended in such conspicuous 
failure as that of Jesus Christ ; and yet it is the 
only life that has reached a perfect success. 
How absolute the failure seemed on that day 



A CEOWN FOPc THE MAX AVHO FAILS 377 



of the crucifixion I Christ seemed given over 
to the power of His enemies. Suppose you 
had stood in that street in Jerusalem, in front 
of Pilate's judgment hall, and watched as the 
howling mob came pouring out after the final 
decision. And as you watch the poor, friend- 
less man fainting beneath His cross, you say 
to yourself. Alas I is this, too, a failure ? 
I had hoped that this man might have brought 
redemption. As I have listened to His won- 
derful words, and caught the heavenly tones 
of love in His voice, and looked on His 
mighty works. I have hoped that here might 
be the Divine Personao-e who was to brino- 

o o 

salvation to the race. But, alas, He, too, 
has failed ! ^Vhat a pitiful end for what 
promised so much ! " And if, as you thus 
meditated aloud, some proud Jew, j)erchance 
a member of the Sanhedrin. had overheard 
you, and you had turned to him with your 
question, "Where, oh, Avhere is the secret 
balm that is to heal the heart-aches of the 
world and lift mankind up to righteousness and 
real triumph ? " he would have pointed you to 
the temple, and said, " In yonder temple. In 



378 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



the Jewish faith and religion is the world's 
greatest power, and it shall yet triumph over 
all." And if as you listened to him some 
briglit-eyed Greek had passed that way, and you 
liad turned to him with your question, he 
would have replied, "Have you been at Athens? 
Have you listened to her philosophers ? Have 
you looked on her paintings and her sculp- 
ture? In Grecian art and learnino^ is hidden 
the world's most splendid force."' And if while 
you listened to him some proud Roman soldier 
had come along with martial tread, and you had 
made your inquiry, he would have said, " Have 
you been in Rome? She is to be the eternal city. 
Have you seen her magnificent armies ? Have 
you studied her grand and simple laws ? In 
Roman force and organization is tlie mighty 
power which is to make all the earth bow 
before her triumphant eagles." And if you 
had pointed them to that poor, despised, con- 
demned maker of parables, and said, " You are 
all wrong ; the simple words of that poor 
prisoner there will outlive your temple or jout 
sculpture or your armies; that despised man, 
fainting under His cross, is the mightiest force 



A CROWN FOll THE MAN WHO FAILS 379 



in the world," how they would have laughed 
you to scorn. But the centuries go by, and 
Roman and Grecian and Jewish civilizations 
are swept away like chaff before the wind in 
the summer's harvest-field, and the crucified 
failure from Nazareth fills the earth with His 
power, and counts the armies of His devoted 
soldiery by hundreds of millions ! 

With such failure and such triumph before 
us we can afford to do our duty and leave the 
result to God. 



XXV 



THE COMIXG OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM 
IX XEW YORK CITY 

An address delivered at the twenty-eighth anniversary of the 
New York City Churclv Extension and Missionary Society 
held in Madison Avenue M. E. Church, April 24, 1894. 

MR. PRESIDENT,— I am glad to see tliis 
little note [referring to the summary on 
the programme] in the next to the last line on 
the bottom of the page that records these " im- 
portant facts." The appeal is to the people 
" who believe in the coming of Christ's king- 
dom in New York city." 

I tell you, brothers and sisters, that right 
alonof that line is where we lack real belief. A 
faith that Christ does intend to rule in New 
York city and Brooklyn and Boston and Chi- 
caofo — real faith that is alive and active, that 
the cities are to become the kiuQ^doms of our 
Christ — I believe we lack that more than any- 
380 



THE COMING OF CHRIST's KINGDOM 381 

thing else. We will have victory when the 
church comes really to believe that tlie cities 
are to become the kingdoms of Christ. I had 
occasion to say, a few Sunday mornings ago, 
something about the duty of tlie church to 
conquer the city, and the next day some one 
sent me anonymously a tract, the substance 
of Avhich was that the city was a mere fire-trap 
for the devil, and that all we could expect 
to do was to pick out a burning brand here and 
there and save it. Now, I tell you, friends, 
there is a good deal of that sort of scepticism 
in the church. That miserable little tract rep- 
resents the lack of faith of a large number of 
our people. Miserable proverbs we make about 
the " city being made by man," etc. ; and all of 
it covering up a sort of belief that somehow the 
city is contrary to divine order. We get it into 
our heads that a city is a bad thing in itself; 
but undoubtedly we are on the verge of greater 
cities yet. The last generation or two seems a 
miracle to us, and yet we are on the verge of 
greater cities. The legislation {dready gone 
through, preparing the way for greater New 
York and greater Boston and greater Cleve- 



382 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



land, is an index finger that points as sure as 
can be to tlie fact that we are on the threshold 
of greater cities than the world has ever seen. 
And undoubtedly the city is in God's order and 
God's providence, and the cities must rule very 
largely the destinies of the future in the State 
and nation. What a marvellous mastery it has 
to-day ! In the very nature of things it must 
continue to have this mastery. The great 
business houses are here in the city, and they 
dictate standards of trade and trade morals 
throughout the whole country everywhere. 
The great newspapers and publishing-houses 
are here, and all the great forces that make 
public sentiment and the standards of public 
opinion, that make and master the country — 
these are in the cities ; and we must master the 
cities or we might as well give up the situation 
entirely. 

The programme of tlie Christian Church must 
include the possession and the occupation of 
the cities in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
We must make up our minds to that, and we 
must believe for it. Now, I believe thoroughly 
that it is just as easy to win men to Christ to- 



THE COMIXG OF CHEIST's KINGDOM 383 



day as it ever has been in the history of the 
world. I don't think there has ever been a time 
when the depraA^ed hnman heart has not re- 
volted against the tender, loving pnrity of the 
Lord Jesus Christ — when it has not been ne- 
cessary that the wicked lieart should yield itself 
in surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. There 
has always been the same opposition to Chris- 
tianity that there is to-day, in substance. 
Christianity has won, where it has won, be- 
cause it has been presented by warm, loving 
hearts full of faith in the Holy Ghost. When 
there has been the earnest contact of the living 
messenger with living men. the people have 
surrendered to Christ. What we need is that 
in the pulpit and in the pew the people shall 
believe that we are in these cities to win them 
for the Lord Jesus Christ. I think there is 
nothino' more shameful and nothino- more sor- 
rowful than the cowardice of the Christian peo- 
ple, many times exemplified in our cities by 
their attitude toward public life. We all know 
very well (and I know these are commonplaces 
that I say for a moment, yet they need to be 
said over again in times like this) that there are 



384 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



enough Christian men in the United States to 
take this infamous liquor traffic hy the throat 
and shake it to death as a dog shakes the life 
out of a rat. And yet we go on and let it rule 
and master us, permitting it to sit in places of 
power. You know there are Christian men 
enough in New York City to shake Tammany 
Hall to death, and yet we let it go on with its 
open corruption. We know very well there are 
Christian i^ien and women enough in these 
great cities to put Christian men in the places 
of power, in the mayor's chair and the high 
offices of authority, and yet we somehow sit 
calmly back and let the thing go on, and let 
the devil come into mastery and power in our 
great cities. 

Now, what we need is a real faith — a faith 
that the Lord Jesus Christ has power to con- 
quer these cities, and He will conquer them if 
we do our duty, and if we go forth as His dis- 
ciples with our faces bathed Avith courage and 
our hearts clothed as the sons and daughters 
of the Most High God. I believe it is possible 
to have Pentecost in our modern cities to-day. 
I believe it with all my heart. And wherever 



THE COMING OF CHRIST's KINGDOM 385 



you show me men and women with the divine 
daring of early Christianity in Jerusalem, press- 
ing face to face, hand to hand, shoulder to 
shoulder, the same preaching, the same praying, 
the same believing, I will show you the same 
sort of work. Over in Boston we have had 
during the past few months a devoted Italian 
missionar}", a young man with the daring of the 
hundred and twenty men and women at Pente- 
cost, preaching, in his own tongue, the story of 
the crucifixion and resurrection; and that city 
saw more Roman Catholics converted to Jesus 
Christ, and born to Methodist Christianity, this 
year, than in all our Italian Missions. I do not 
say that critically of our Italian missionaries — 
nothing of the sort — but this shows that our 
cities have possibilities in them beyond any- 
thing we ever dreamed about. 

We are on the very eve of great revivals 
among these foreign peoples in our midst. All 
our cities to-day are in the same condition that 
Jerusalem was in on the day of Pentecost when 
the disciples went out to preach. One of the 
astonishing things then was that every man 
heard the Gospel in his own tongue. They 



386 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



talked to the people face to face with burning 
hearts and burning words, and men were per- 
suaded to cry, " What shall we do to be saved? " 
We have people of every nationality, every 
tribe, every kindred and tongue ; and I am glad 
to see in these " important facts " that you are 
preaching the Gospel in a number of languages. 
We ought to-day to be preaching the Gospel in 
every language that is spoken in our streets, 
and we ought to get close to the people and 
preach to them in their own tongue. I am 
afraid there are tens of thousands of people 
who speak English who don't get the Gospel 
in their own tongue. When you preach to a 
man in his own tongue, it means that you are 
going to get alongside of him on the plane of 
brotherhood and look straight into a brother's 
eyes, and tell him of a Christ who has redeemed 
your soul and given you the hope of glory and 
of immortal life. And that is what we need to 
do in these cities all about us, among the rich 
and among the poor. We need to feel down 
in the depths of our hearts, in every one of our 
churches, that all of these people — the poorest 
of them, and the wickedest and most depraved 



THE COMING OF CHRIST's KINGDOM 387 

and criminal among them — that they are the 
sons and daughters of God, the brothers and 
sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ ; that they are 
dear to the heart of God, and that He loves 
them as tenderly as we love our little children. 
There must be no more caste for us than there 
was for Jesus Christ. I know that many of 
these people are very bad. Many of them are 
degraded and seem to be incapable of liigher 
feeling. I have worked too much among what 
are called the very poorest people in the cities 
not to understand these things that seem to 
stand in the way. 

Old Father Taylor, of the Seamen's Church, 
used to say that there are three kinds of people 
in the world — the Lord's poor, the devil's 
poor, and the poor devils. We have got along 
to the point in most of our churclies Avhere, if 
a man can show an orthodox pedigree for three 
or four generations, and can prove himself as 
one of the Lord's poor, we will have some sort 
of sympathy for him, and give him some sort of 
tenderness and brotherhood. But I want to 
know, my brother, who is going to look after 
the devil's poor and the poor devils ? We 



388 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



don't get that sneer for either one of those 
classes from our Master. Our Saviour was as 
full of sympathy and tenderness for that poor 
fellow over among the tombs of Gadara as He 
was with anybody else He had to deal with 
during the whole course of His ministry. I 
tell you that these depraved people, the people 
out of whom we are constantly filling our jails 
and our penitentiaries — these people are the 
brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
and no matter how poor and degraded and 
sinful, whatever you do for them, Christ has 
promised that He will receive it as though it 
were done for Him. And in the worst there is 
this great fact, that they are the sons and 
daughters of the great God. He grieves over 
them and longs to see them saved ; and is as 
happy, and the angels are as happy^ when they 
are reclaimed, as if one of the richest men in 
New York were converted. These " devil's 
poor " are just as good as the " devil's rich ; " 
and we must get it into our hearts that there 
are none of them, rich or poor, who rightfully 
belong to Satan, but God wants them saved. 
The devil is an invading enemy, and they 



THE COMIXG OF CHKIST's KI>,'GD0M 389 



belong to God. They may be covered over 
Avitb sill and sorrow and ^vith degradation, but 
tliey are God's children ; and there are possi- 
bilities in every one of them of being won 
to wholesomeness and healtlifulness and ever- 
lastino^ oiorv. 

I tell you the finest things tliat men have 
ever written about the possibilities of reclaim- 
ing men can more than be equalled by actual 
facts. Sometimes people think that the story 
of Jean Valjean. told by Victor Hugo, is too 
good to be true. When the good bishop met 
him there in that little home at night, a poor, 
hard, bitter, morose, savage, brutal man. and by 
a look of love and a sin ode act seemed to trans- 
form a life, and brought him fortli to a career of 
marvellotts goocbiess. people think it too good 
to be true. Why. it is no more than Mr. 
Round tells us about that man Avho committed 
crime after crime, and vdio was liard and bitter 
and bloodtlhrsty. wliom he helped time after 
time ; yet one day while sitting in his oflice at 
his desk, he liad the consciousness that some 
one Avas creeping up behind Ihm. He rose to 
his feet, and there stood the man with murder 



390 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



in his eye and in his hardened face. Mr. Round 
stood there looking at him, and finally, with 
quivering lip, he said, " Jack, if you do that 
you will break my heart." And the man's face 
softened and the bludgeon dropped from his 
hand, and there began a new Valjean, a new 
life of righteousness and goodness. Why, there 
is not a minister in any of these cities any- 
where, who has had wide experience, but could 
tell you of scores of cases like that man's 
transformation! The men and women down in 
the very worst slums of this city — those whom 
these men are seeking to win — are of infinite 
worth. They are, like ourselves, the sons and 
daughters of God. When we get that into our 
hearts, we will have money enough. When 
Ave can really get into the hearts of our church 
membership that the Lord Jesus longs and 
grieves and weeps over all these lost people, 
then we shall have money enough to carry the 
Gospel to them. But we need not only money: 
we need that the great heart of the church shall 
be anxious about this ; shall be full of pleading 
for it; shall be full of heart-breaking sobs and 
tears for it ; that the whole church shall be 



THE COMING OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM 391 

aroused to the fact tliat the one thing that 
Christ values in the world is to rescue these 
lost ones.. When our church can show the 
same right to exist that the early church did — 
that we shall be everywhere seeking, at all 
times, to better the condition of the poor, 
soothe the fevered,^ clothe the children, better 
the wages and the comfort of all these men and 
women that are toiling against hope, and many 
times for months are pleading for a chance to 
toil — when we shall everywhere make the 
people believe by our actions, by our brotherly 
sympathy and fellowship, that the heart of the 
church is like the great heart of Christ, oh, I 
tell you we shall see glorious revivals ! We 
shall see mighty triumphs in the city when that 
comes to pass ! 

There is nothing that palsies my heart like 
this, that Jesus Christ should be so much more 
popular among the non-churchgoing multitudes 
in our cities than our churches are. You can 
find man after man and home after home of the 
very sort I am talking about. I know you can 
find tens of thousands of men in this city who 
have great admiration for the name of Jesus 



892 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



Christ and will shout for it, yet they do not 
have a feeling that the churches represent Him. 
I know, to a large extent, they have erroneous 
convictions on the subject, but down at the 
bottom there is something radically wrong tliat 
we have not come to feel how necessary it is 
for us to make everybody know that we are the 
disciples of Jesus, that ''we have learned of 
Him." We ought not to care to be any more 
popular than Jesus Himself ; we should wish to 
share His suffering, we ought to desire to share 
His sorrow, to share His humanity, and if Jesus 
were here and would find His luxury — yes, I 
repeat it — if Jesus Christ were here and would 
find His luxury in giving of His money and His 
time and all His thought and all His love and 
His sympathy in looking after and caring for 
the poor and the neglected and the out-of-work, 
and the people that are discouraged and dis- 
heartened, then, brother, we must find our lux- 
ury in doing these very things. We must not 
be above our Lord. We must put ourselves in 
our brother's place. You and I, standing here 
in these modern cities, represent Jesus Christ. 
Oh ! God knows I preach it to myself as much 



THE COMING OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM 393 



as I preach it to you ; the longing of my lieart 
is that I may find what Jesus Christ woukl do 
if He were here. I do know that the gr-reat- 
cities present the marvellous opportunity of our 
time ; for it seems to me that there never was a 
time when these thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of oppress&cl and abused Russian Jew^s, 
and tliese poor half-hearted people, so far as 
religion is concerned, the Italians, who are 
coming to us — these multitudes, as sheep with- 
out a shepherd, half broken away from their 
own church ideas, sure to belong to Jesus 
Christ or the devil — were so ready to meet us, 
if we would meet them with open heart and 
sympathy, so read}" to receive us and to receive 
our Gospel. O brothers and sisters, there 
never was such a mission field as these cities of 
ours right around the seaboard. 

Talk about these people not being worth 
saving- 1 Talk about a Jew not being worth 
saving, with the blood of Abraham and Isaac, 
and the blood of the Lord Jesus coursing in his 
veins I Talk about these Italians not being 
worth saving, with the blood of an Angelo and 
a Garibaldi, and the blood of the most mar- 



394 



THE HONEYCOMBS OF LIFE 



vellous painters and sculptors of the world fill- 
ing them with life ! All these people are 
coming to us with burdens, heart-broken and 
weary. What they need is a church standing 
in the place of the Master, saying in the tones 
of tlie Master, " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest." 

I shall never forget the impression I had 
once, when I sailed away from Holland in a 
Dutch steamer, watching the emigrants as they 
came on board. They Avere there from all 
around Holland everywhere — great, big, fat 
Dutchmen, who seemed to be as tall when lying 
down as when standing up. The old father 
and mother came down in many cases to bid 
good-by to the boy or the girl. It was a sor- 
rowful crowd. It broke my heart as I looked 
at it. And after a while, when the cables were 
thrown off, and we began to get up steam and 
sailed out, there was a great waving of handker- 
chiefs of every color, and the old Avomen Avaved 
their shawls, and some their bonnets and hats. 
And then for days afterward, all the Avay across, 
I noticed hoAV sad that company Avas. We 



THE COMING OF CHRIST's KINGDOM 395 



had almost reached this shore before they began 
to have a little courage again, and to brighten 
up with hope of the new land. They were 
homesick. I said to myself, " These people 
come over to us homesick and lonely and 
broken-hearted; and if we have the love and 
tenderness and sympathy of our Master, and we 
meet them with that spirit and with that ten- 
derness and devotion — any church that will do 
that can win them and save them." And I 
pray God that New York Methodism will stand 
by this City Missionary Society. We must 
have greater devotion to these matters in our 
large cities. We must have united action. 

We talk about the "great connectional spirit" 
in our denomination, about one preacher having 
an interest in all the churches. We ought to 
show to the world what a strong body like that 
can do. Every church in this city ought to be 
united in this great movement. It ought not to 
be left to a few noble-hearted men to carry this 
great burden alone. It is a shame that in these 
efforts in all our cities we almost break the 
backs, if not the hearts, of half a dozen great- 
hearted laymen that put their shoulders under 



396 



THE HONEYCOMBS OP LIFE 



the wheel. Gocl bless these men ! And He will 
bless them, I am sure. Bat what we need is 
that we shall stir every man and every woman 
— that we shall get the young people of the 
Epworth League interested in this work. My 
observation is that if you' cannot get a man to 
give his money by the time he is thirty, or 
twenty-five even, there isn't much chance after- 
ward. He gets miserly as he grows older. 
Let us appeal to our young men and young 
women ; let us get hold of our children and 
youth ; let us lay it upon their hearts that God 
intends for this generation to take the cities for 
Christ. We have no right to mortgage the 
future with our problems. If we are not able 
to take hold of this great question now, what 
right have we to believe that children born of 
such fathers and mothers as we will solve it ? 
What right have we to leave it to them? 

In my boyhood days beyond the Rocky Moun- 
tains, I read a sermon by one of those old pi- 
oneer saddlebag men. I tell you it was the 
man on horseback with his saddlebags who rep- 
resented the romance and heroism of all my 
dreams in boyhood. He was one of those dar- 



THE COMIXG OF CHRIST 's KINGDOM 397 



ing fellows, and the sermon Avas on the revo- 
lutionary spirit of Christianity. It liacl three 
heads. The first, The world is \^'rong side up ; 
the second. It needs to be turned upside down ; 
and third, We are the men to do it. We want that 
spirit now. Christ cares as much for us as for 
Paul or Peter. He is as willing to bless our 
words to-day as he was theirs. And when we 
get heart to heart with men, and go after them 
with tears, ready to be cursed ourselves rather 
than that they should not be won to God, we 
shall win these great cities to Him, and they 
shall become — Xew York city shall become 
— the kino-dom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



